Victims of Abuja-Lokoja road accident given mass burial

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Kogi state command, on Monday said the victims of an auto crash that occured along Lokoja-Gegu-Abuja highway had been given a mass burial.

The command disclosed that the 16 people that were burnt in the accident were buried at Alewu village on the highway.

The state Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr Ogochukwu Ugboma, who disclosed this to newsmen on Lokoja, the Kogi state capital, said the bodies were accorded mass burial because of the circumstance of the death.

According to him, all the victims were burnt beyond recognition and could not be claimed by any family member.

He said that the gender and the identity of the victims could not be ascertained as a result of the severity of burn they sustained.

He explained that the remains of the victims were buried in a mass grave at Alewu village with the police and environmental officials from the Kogi Local Government participating in the burial.

Speaking on the accident, Ugboma said only one person from the two vehicles that were involved survived with minor injury, while the rest 16 were completely burnt.

He stated that the accident that occurred last Friday involved a Kano bound Toyota Hiace passenger bus with registration number Yobe 11A – 10 YB and a Benin, Edo state bound Nissan Xtera Jeep marked Lagos CV 516 LSD.

Ugboma said that the injured victim was later treated at a private hospital in Koton Karfe, Kogi local government area of the state and has since been discharged.

He blamed the drivers of the two vehicles for the accident, stating that the two of them left their lanes which resulted in a head on collision.