KANO, NIGERIA (AFP) – Eighteen people were killed when a car collided head-on with a passenger bus in northeast Nigeria, a road safety official said yesterday.
The crash happened late Thursday along a highway in Yobe State outside the commercial city of Potiskum, said a spokesman for the federal road safety commission in the state Hussaini Haruna.
“A total of 18 people died in the accident which was caused by speeding and violations of traffic rules,” Haruna told AFP. Three other people were injured in the crash, he added.
Accidents are common on Nigeria’s poorly maintained roads due to speeding and disregard of traffic rules.
Last year, Nigeria recorded 10,637 road accidents which claimed 5,101 lives and injured 30,690 people, according to figures by the road safety commission.
