Driver dies, 2 others sustain injuries in Bauchi multiple accidents

One person has reportedly died, while two others sustained varying degrees of injures in multiple road accidents which occurred on the Bauchi-Jos highway on Monday and Tuesday respectively.

DAILY POST gathered that the deceased was the driver of a red coloured Opel Vectra commercial car, which had a head-on collision with another commercial vehicle, a Toyota Sienna on Tuesday.

The driver, it was gathered, died on the spot, immediately after the collision. He drove in a Toyota Sienna, with the registration number, Abuja KWL 776 AZ.

Earlier on Monday, two persons sustained injuries in an accident, which occurred at Buzaye, about 18 kilometres away from Bauchi metropolis.

The accident involved a fuel tanker, belonging to AYM Shafa, which was carrying petroleum products and heading towards Bauchi and a trailer going on the opposite direction. While the trailer was said to have burnt down completely, the tanker was partially burnt.

A Peugeot J5 Bus was said to have caught fire at the same spot on Tuesday, though the cause of the fire was not known as at the time of filing this report.

Speaking on the accidents, in a telephone chat with journalists on Wednesday evening in Bauchi, the Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Bauchi Sector Command, Yusuf Abdullahi, informed that the trailer driver and his assistant were injured in the Monday accident.

According to him, “We got a call at about 11.15 am on Monday and our men rushed to the scene of the crash. What happened was that a container in an attempt to overtake a petrol tanker ran into the tanker from the rear.

“Due to that, it punctured a compartment of the tanker which started leaking its contents. The tanker driver parked the vehicle but still on the road.”

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He stated that the body of the tanker hooked to the head of the container, which prevented the trailer driver from moving on.

The Sector Commander informed that fire, however, broke out when one Volkswagen Golf car carrying iron rods at its back wanted to pass and the rods scratched the road.

“At the time the men of the Fire Service put out the fire, two compartments of the PMS in the tanker were still intact. The tanker belongs to A.Y.M. Shafa; they came and transloaded it after the fire was put out while the container also loaded the milk it was carrying into another vehicle.

“The operation lasted up to about 11am this (Tuesday) morning, and we invited the V.I.O. and they came and cleared the road to create space for people to pass.

“There was no death except that the container driver and his assistant sustained minor injuries,” Abdullahi informed.

He, however, warned motorists to always stay clear of petrol tankers on the road and be careful.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO), Bauchi State Fire Service, Abubakar Bala, also confirmed the accidents, saying that fire outbreak as a result of the accident involving the trailer and tanker was put out by the combined efforts of the state fire service and the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic Fire Service Outpost.