/ 19 November 2001

26 DIE, 25 HURT IN ROAD SMASH IN NIGERIA

TWENTY-six people were killed and 25 others hospitalised when a truck somersaulted on a road in northern Nigeria, a local radio station reported on Sunday. The accident occurred on Saturday along the Funtua-Zaria road in Kaduna State after a rear tyre burst. The report said 25 people died on the spot while one person died later in hospital. Twenty-five others are receiving treatment in the hospital. Road crashes occur regularly in Nigeria due to careless driving, lack of maintenance of vehicles and poor road conditions. Fourteen people were burned to death last month when a fuel tanker exploded after colliding with six other vehicles in central Nigeria. – AFP