Fuel tanker kills 23 people in Lokoja
No fewer than 23 persons including five students of the Kogi State Polytechnic and three children on their way to school have been killed in a road crash involving a petrol tanker in Felele along the Lokoja-Abuja Highway.
The tanker, loaded with Premium Motor Spirit and belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was said to have had brakes failure around 8 am. The tanker fell on five cars, two motorcycles, and three tricycles popularly known as Keke, killing all occupants.
Among those killed and burnt beyond recognition were five students of the state-owned polytechnic, three nursery school pupils, and passersby.
Also killed was a businessman identified simply as Samson, his wife, and three children.
Samson reportedly sells sewing machines in Lokoja and went to drop his children off at school as he usually does.
An eyewitness told our correspondent that the brakes of the tanker failed during an attempt to manoeuvre and in the process, fell on its side, trapping five vehicles trying to overtake it.
