Sixty-two people were killed when a bus collided at the weekend with a car and a truck in southeast Nigeria, police said Tuesday, confirming media reports.
The 48-seater bus bound for Lagos collided head-on with the truck on a road between Port Harcourt and Enugu on Sunday, a police spokesman in Abia State told AFP by telephone.
A private car then ran into the two vehicles and exploded into flames. The bus and the truck then caught fire, he added.
Most of those killed were burned beyond recognition. There were no known survivors, said the spokesman who asked not to be named.
Abia State Governor Orji Kalu visited the scene of the accident Monday and urged motorists to take greater care on the roads, the newspaper The Comet reported Tuesday.
He said it appeared both the bus and the truck had been using the same lane because the other lane was in a bad state of repair.
"Frankly speaking, if motorists use the dilapidated lane, then accidents would be minimized," he said.
Kalu also called for the federal government to carry out repairs to the roads.
High fatality road accidents occur regularly in Nigeria because of the number of vehicles on the roads, the poor maintenance of vehicles and dangerous driving -- LAGOS (AFP)
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