By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA (Reuters) – At least 17 people were killed and 208 injured in Nigeria’s Niger state after a truck carrying them veered out of control and crashed, the Federal Road Safety Corp said on Wednesday.
Spokesperson Bisi Kazeem said the crash occurred at about 0200 GMT on Tuesday in Takalafia village, in the Magama local government area of the state.
“The injured victims have been evacuated to Kantagora General Hospital for immediate medical attention, while the dead victims were deposited in the mortuary of the same hospital,” Kazeem said in a statement.
Traffic accidents are commonplace in Africa’s most populous country, where many roads are in poor condition and full of pot-holes. Crashes are frequent, particularly at night with vehicles poorly lit.
(Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo, editing by Ed Osmond)