by Oge Okonkwo

An accident was said to have occurred yesterday morning, along the Katsina-Kano road, when two vehicles, a bus and a truck, plunged into a collapsed bridge at Yar’randa village in Charanchi Local Government Area of Katsina State, leaving no fewer than 16 people dead and 6 people missing.

The bus was reportedly conveying 23 passengers, including little children from Kankia to Kastina and plunged into the bridge which was said to have collapsed few minutes before due  to the heavy downpour of Monday night.

Up to 15 passengers were dead from the accident  while 6 others are still missing in the bus, one person was feared dead in a truck with registration number XK 329 KMC, which plunged into the bridge.

Leadership Newspapers reports:

It was gathered that 15 dead bodies were recovered from the unmarked ash-coloured bus, out of which four were recovered near Ajiwa dam, scores of metres away from the scene of the accident, after being washed away by the flowing water. The corpses have been deposited at the Charanchi General Hospital.

An eyewitness who claimed he arrived at the scene few minutes after the accident said he saw the bus floating on top of the water with scores of the passengers shouting for help “but we couldn’t do anything because the whole scenario was beyond our control.”

An FRSC official who spoke to our correspondent on the condition ofanonymity at the scene said investigation by the corps revealed that the bus driver was moving at top speed and “that is why he could not stop when he approached the collapsed bridge.”