By Suzan Edeh

BAUCHI—Eighteen people were, Sunday night, roasted to death when a commercial bus they were travelling in, Yankari Mass Transit, had an accident near Buzaye village along Bauchi-Jos Expressway.

The accident occurred when a truck, with number plates XC-675-BAU, heading towards Jos, had a head-on collision with the Yankari transport’s Toyota Hiace bus, number plates BAU-148-XR.

It was learned that the collision led to a fire outbreak that consumed the passengers in the fully-loaded 18-seater bus coming from Abuja.

Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Haruna Mohammed, said a police patrol team attached to GRA Division, Bauchi, and men of fire service from Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi, rushed to the scene of the crash, put out the fire and rushed the victims to ATBU Teaching Hospital Bauchi for medical attention.

He said: “Eighteen victims were certified dead and burnt beyond recognition and the corpses deposited at the mortuary for post-mortem examinations.

“Two of the dead were identified as Alhaji Adamu Maijama’a, 45, of Jahum, the bus driver, and Yahaya Umar, 41, a passenger, of Unguwan Dawaki, Bauchi.”

The PPRO, who said that the case was under investigation and efforts were ongoing to ascertain the cause of the accident, called on members of the public, whose relatives travelled from Abuja to Bauchi, to go to the motor parks in Abuja and check the passengers’ manifest or report at the ATBU Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, for corpse identification.