The accident, which occurred at about 10:30am was as a result of brake failure on the side of the truck.
The driver was descending the Kugbo hill when he realized that his brake system had failed.
Nyanya Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Micheal Arinzeagu, confirmed the incident to newsmen.
He said: “There was minor crash earlier between two motorists who were unable to settle themselves peacefully. They parked and were claiming right. In the course of the argument, a soldier on a motorcycle stopped and tried to make peace among them. Before then, the traffic had built up.
He added that while the soldier was trying to make peace, the Zeberced truck that had already failed brake, was descending the Kugbo hill.
“It was obvious that he couldn’t control the vehicle anymore and instead of heading to nearby ditch to stop the truck, he took the wrong decision of using people and vehicles as break. It was catastrophic because innocent lives were lost and vehicles destroyed,” he explained.
“As the driver could not control the vehicle again, he crushed other vehicles along the way. Unfortunately, the soldier that was trying to make peace and many others were crushed by the truck.”
When asked on the number of people that died, the FRSC official said, “We could not give exact number of people that died because we were busy trying to rescue those that were still alive.
“We are yet to visit the hospitals where they were taken to. But we counted 19 vehicles including the Abuja high capacity bus (El-Rufai bus) and several other expensive vehicles that were damaged,” he explained.
