Five killed in Abakaliki crash

At least five people have died in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State when a bus filled with passengers caught fire along the highway.

City Round gathered that seven people were rescued at the incident which occurred along the Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway, near the G-hostel junction.

It was not immediately clear where the bus came from into the state, but the incident was said to have occurred about 20 minutes past midnight on Friday.

Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Joshua Ukandu, said the vehicle ran into some obstacles on the road placed by a maintenance team and it then caught fire.

Ukandu said, “The incident happened around 00:20 hours. There are some bad spots on the road where some reconstruction is ongoing. The driver may not have been aware and so ran into the obstacles on the road and lost control.

“The vehicle caught fire immediately after it ran into the obstacles, and five persons were burnt to death while seven others were rescued with severe burns and rushed to the Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, where they are receiving treatment.”