FORTY-EIGHT hours after about 500 persons were killed in Plateau State, 64 persons lost their lives in two road accidents in Kogi and Edo states. In the Kogi accident, an articulated vehicle crushed about 60 people at Felele, a suburb of Lokoja, the state capital.

While at Uselu market on the Ugbowo-Lagos road, in Benin City, four persons were killed, when another articulated vehicle ran into them, crushing them in the process.

Security agents gave conflicting figures on the Kogi accident, as police authorities said that no fewer than 60 people were killed in the  accident, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in the state said about 26 died.

The state sector commander of the FRSC, Mr Yomi Asaniyan, told the Nigerian Tribune that there was the likelihood that the casualities might be more than that, stating that many families had come to the scene of the accident to remove their relations’ corpses, adding that many people were seriously injured.

Kogi State Police Command spokesman, Mr Abubakar Mohammed, who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune on phone, said that no fewer than 60 people were killed in the accident.

The Nigerian Tribune, which visited the spot around 1.00 p.m., an hour after the accident occurred, learnt that it was caused by an articulated vehicle,  belonging to Dangote Cement Company, fully loaded with bags of cement. The vehicle was said to have lost control after a brake failure and rammed into many vehicles.

About  20 vehicles were crushed by the articulated vehicle, among them were five buses, 12 cars and five motorcycles. The affected buses were coming from Abuja but were caught due to a traffic jam caused by the market.

The heavy casualties may have been due to transactions going on at the market since it fell on a market day, while the affected cars were parked along the highway, many intra-city vehicles were picking passengers and others alighting from the vehicles.

An eyewitness, who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune, said that many lives were lost, particularly, traders’ and passengers’ whose vehicles were caught in the accident, disclosing that he alone carried 16 dead bodies to the state general hospital on the plea of the road safety men.

Meanwhile, Kogi State deputy governor, Chief Philip Salawu, narrowly escaped being lynched by angry youths who were protesting against the accident.

The deputy governor had visited the scene of the accident for an on-the-spot assessment when the angry youth booed him and were moving towards him before his security aides promptly spirited him into his vehicle and sped off but not without the youth throwing missiles at his convoy.

The deputy chairman of the Lokoja Local Government, Mr Lawrence Ikuboroje, who spoke to newsmen, called for the completion of the dualised road, which he said would reduce the constant accidents being recorded in the area, adding that many lives  and vehicles were lost in the accidents.

FRSC sector commander, Mr Asaniyan, who said that corpses of the victims and the injured were taken to the state general hospital, condemned the activities of the traders, stating that the traders, in many cases, had abandoned their stalls inside the market to come to the road to display their wares which he said were constituting serious traffic jam on the highway.

He called on the state government to close down the market until the traders complied with the regulation of moving back to their stalls, stressing that accidents occur at the spot on a daily basis.

Asaniyan also called on the management of Dangote Group of Companies to always train their drivers on traffic rules and regulations, explaining that the drivers had, on several occasions, caused untold hardship to  road users.

Meanwhile, Kogi State governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, has expressed shock over the accident.

According to a statement issued by a Special Adviser to the governor, Mr Zakari Adamu, the governor lamented the accident and prayed to God to give the families of the deceased the fortitude to bear the loss.

The governor also said that his heart was with the families of the dead and to those who were injured in the accident and prayed to God to heal them.

In Benin City, Nigerian Tribune gathered that the trailer, a Mack, with registration number XG 633 BEN, had brake failure and was trying to avert running into the market when it swerved to the opposite direction, crushing four people.

The victims, according to eyewitnesses, were a middle-aged woman whose husband and children were waiting on the other side of the road, two commercial motorcycle riders and a young man.

The dead woman, who was identified as Mrs. Rita Oshawo, was said to be a nurse.

The trailer driver reportedly tried to avoid a group of street traders, who had engaged the state task force team in a heated argument on the road, when he suddenly lost control.

The driver of the trailer was also said to have sustained serious injuries.

The Edo State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr. Henry Olatunji, warned traders against street trading which, he said, was illegal and could endanger their lives and the lives of other road users.

He said that two persons died in the accident and that their bodies had been deposited in a mortuary in Benin City while the injured were taken to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).