Nigeria (AP) — Authorities say at least 26 people have died after two buses collided and caught fire on a busy highway in western Nigeria.
Oyo state police spokesman Adekunle Ajisebutu said Saturday that 11 others were injured in the crash.
Police said the two buses were trying to overtake other vehicles on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and ended up striking each other.
The command’s public relations officer, Kunle Ajisebutu, confirmed the accident and said 11 others including three children sustained severe injuries.
Mr. Ajisebutu said witnesses reported that two commercial buses had a head-on-collision with the vehicles immediately bursting into flames claiming 26 lives.
“Corpses of the dead have been deposited at Adeoyo General Hospital, Yemetu, while the injured were taken to the Ibadan Central Hospital, and the University College Hospital, (UCH) Ibadan for medical attention.
“Police investigation has begun.
“The victims were evacuated by a combined team of policemen from the Toll Gate Police Division and men of the FRSC.
“The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, visited the scene immediately,” he said.
A witness had earlier said that more than 36 people were feared dead following the accident at a Quarry site at Km 96, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
According to the witness, quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria, all the passengers in the two buses were burnt beyond recognition.
“Only a baby escaped death because the father of the child threw him out through the window of the bus,’’ the witness told the News Agency of Nigeria,” the source who was not named said.
Road accidents are common in Nigeria, where more than 5,000 people died in crashes last year, according to national statistics.
Many accidents are caused by reckless driving, while others are attributed to poorly maintained roads and vehicles.
