18 killed in southwest Nigeria's road accident

A collision between a truck and a 18- seater commercial bus claimed 18 lives in southwest Nigeria's Ogun State, authorities said on Friday.

The passengers who were mainly students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ago-Iwoye area of the state died on the spot.

The accident was said to have occurred when the container-laden truck driving in the opposite against traffic had a fatal head-on collision with the commercial bus conveying the passengers.

The Commander of the state-owned Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps in Ijebu-Ode, Tommy Hamzat who was at the scene when the accident occurred, told Xinhua that the truck driver who was driving against traffic collided with the commercial bus, killing all the occupants, including the bus driver.

"I was coming from Sagamu when I saw the accident. I had to hurriedly park my car and ran there to see if the passengers could be rescued. But unfortunately all the occupants, including the driver died," Hamzat said.

"The bus was facing Lagos, though, I don't know where it was coming from. The container-laden truck with no load in it was coming from Sagamu side but it was driving against the traffic and that resulted in the collision, which eventually claimed the lives of the innocent people," he added.

The remains of the dead passengers have been deposited at the mortuary of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, he told Xinhua.

The road accident is one of the serious road accidents that continue to claim lives of innocent people in the West African nation. Endi