4 persons roasted to death in Abuja road accident

Three persons,  believed to be traveling from Akure, the Ondo State capital, to Abuja were on Sunday evening roasted to death when the hilux jeep  conveying them suddenly had a burst tyre, leading to the vehicle somersaulting several times before catching fire.

One of the two passengers, who was  thrown out as the vehicle was somersaulting , it was gathered, later died in the hospital, where they were rushed to by officials of the federal Road Safety Corp, FRSC.

The accident happened at a location between Yangoji and Kwali along Lokoja-Abuja road at about 4.35pm on Sunday.

The scene of the accident was a distance of 45 kilometers to Zuba.

The driver of the vehicle, which had a Lagos State registration number, was however said to have survived.

Eye witness accounts had it that the Hilux Jeep, after somersaulting severally,  later caught fire, while the three passengers at the back seats were trapped as the fire continued to rage on.

The trapped passengers were said to be shouting and calling for help, but the intensity of the fire would not allow anybody to move too close to the vehicle.

Few of the farmers around the scene of accident were reported to have used buckets to fetch water, but that did not have any impact .

One of two passengers who managed to escape from the Hilux Jeep, but sustained serious injuries, later died in an undisclosed hospital where the FRSC officials took them  to.

Virtually all the motorists that passed the scene of the accident, including our correspondent, were forced to stop to see the situation of things for themselves.

The fire was accompanied by a very heavy and thick ball of smoke for the period it lasted. Three  explosion-like sounds were heard from the burning vehicle within an interval of about five minutes.

When  contacted, the Sector commander of the FRSC in the area ,  Mr Sunny Oghenekaro confirmed the accident but declined to give the number of the death recorded as well as the identities of the victims.

Oghenekaro  explained that it was wrong for the families of the accident victims to get to know about the death of their family.