Nigerian police confirm 19 wedding guests killed in road accident
Abuja, Apr 24 (Xinhua/UNI) Nigerian police on Wednesday confirmed 19 wedding guests killed in a road accident in Gwaram Sabuwa area of the northern state of Jigawa.
Twenty-one others sustained severe injuries in the road accident on Tuesday, state police spokesman Abdu Jinjiri told Xinhua via telephone.
The victims were friends and relatives coming from a wedding ceremony in the neighboring state of Bauchi, according to Jinjiri.
The accident occurred when the front tyre of an overloaded bus burst while in motion. The bus somersaulted and burst into flames. Most of the victims were women and children.
Witnesses told local media they saw six corpses of children attached to the lifeless bodies of their mothers.
Jinjiri said police have launched a further investigation into the accident.
Deadly road accidents are common in Nigeria, often caused by overloading, bad road conditions and reckless driving.
According to a report by the Federal Road Safety Corps, there were 9,383 road traffic crashes reported in 2017 across the country, of which 2,587 were fatal and killing a total of 5,121 people.
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