10 die as passenger buses collide in Ondo

•Five others injured

TEN persons reportedly died yesterday while five others were critically injured in a road accident at Agbogbo on the Akure-Owo Road in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

An eyewitness said the accident involved a 14-passenger Toyota commercial bus with registration number (Plateau) PKN 63 XA and a commercial Mercedes Benz bus with registration number (Abuja) 561 KWL.

The incident was said to have occurred at 5 a.m.

The eyewitness could not say give the cause of the accident.

The positions of the two vehicles involved in the accident indicated that there was a head-on collision.

One of the buses was said to be heading to Abuja from Lagos while the second one was reportedly coming from Jos, the Plateau State capital.

The eyewitness said: “We just heard a loud bang and we quickly rushed to the scene. The passengers in one of the buses were trapped inside. Many of them were already dead.”

It was gathered that men of the Ondo State Police Command and their counterparts from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) took the dead to the morgue of the State Specialists Hospital in Akure while the injured were taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment.

The identity of the victims could not be ascertained last night.

Police spokesman Femi Joseph, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said the accident was caused by reckless driving and dangerous overtaking.

He urged motorists to follow traffic rules and regulations.