Not fewer than eight persons, among them students, were crushed to death when a tipper conveying sharp sand suffered break failure in Mpape, a settlement close to the Maitama District of Abuja.
The incident, it was gathered, occurred on Thursday around 4 p.m. before the Keke NAPEP Park along the road that leads to Mpape junction.
A witness, Mustapha Aminu, told Daily Trust that the truck rammed into some tricycles popularly called Keke and vehicles, killing at least 8 people, including students.
Aminu said the driver, having seen the havoc he had caused, abandoned the truck and ran away with the help of a motorcycle.
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“When the incident happened, I was close to the road. It was very damaging. It killed about eight people as I counted. People were saying the trailer brake failed. To me, what caused the incident at first was that one of the truck’s tires burst, which made it lose control.
“Nobody heard the horn from the truck, because sometimes when incidents like this happen, one would hear the horn from afar, then people would stay clear from the road. If the driver had done this, a lot of lives would have been saved.
“More than seven Keke and several cars were affected. About two students in one of the tricycles died instantly,” he said.
Confirming the incident, the Sector Commander of the FCT, Chorrie Mutaa said their rescue team recovered five dead bodies and 10 injured persons. He added that 13 vehicles, including the truck that caused the accident and a motorcycle, were involved in the accident.
