Twenty-two passengers of a luxury bus were crushed to death by a truck that ran over them while they were held down by armed robbers along the Sagamu-Benin expressway in southern Nigeria overnight Saturday, the local media reported Sunday.
The passengers were among traders travelling to the South-east using the popular ‘night bus’ that usually travels overnight.
A gang of armed robbers reportedly stopped the bus and asked all the passengers to disembark and lie on the ground, when an errant truck ran over them, killing 13 men and seven women..
Confirming the accident, an official of the Federal Road Safety Commission, Kayode Olagunju, said; ”This incident is unfortunate. What we observed (was) that there was no dent on the luxurious bus, which indicates the vehicles did not run in to each other.
”The most likely cause of the accident could be because of the activities of armed robbers,” Olagunju said.
The commission has persistently warned people to stop travelling in the night in view of the incessant armed robberies and the high spate of accidents on the roads.