By JOHN ADAMS, Minna

A road accident involving two fuel tankers and three utility vehicles has claimed the lives of no fewer than eight people with several others sustaining various degrees of injury in Kutigi town in Lavun Local government Area of Niger State.

The accident, which occurred on Monday evening at about 8:30 pm.

The two fuel tankers involved in the accident were said to be travelling in opposite directions when they had a head-on collision a few meters from Kutigi town

The two drivers of the two fuel tankers and their conductors were among the dead, including some passengers in an open truck which was also trapped in the accident.

Our correspondent gathered that one of the fuel trucks was travelling from Bida to Mokwa and the other from Mokwa to Bida when they collided in a sharp bend, resulting in the vehicles bursting into flames.

An open truck which was trying to overtake one of the fuel tankers lost control and ran into a ditch with all of its passengers burnt to death.

“Some of them died in the hospital,” an eyewitness told our correspondent on phone.

Fuel from the two tankers, according to an eyewitness, spilt on the passengers in the open truck resulting in their being burnt to death.

Although villagers made frantic efforts to try and rescue the passengers, they were not successful due to the inferno.

The house of the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructural Development, Alhaji Nda Panti, was among three buildings that were burnt as a result of the accident.

When contacted the Director-General, Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Inga, confirmed the incident.

“I am just arriving Kutigi with the Deputy Governor. I will give you the details later,” Inga told Daily Sun. (Daily Sun)