Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Sixteen people have been confirmed dead following a fatal road mishap along the Lokoja‑Okene highway in Kogi State, after a fully loaded commercial bus veered off the road, plunged under a bridge, and crushed its occupants in a gruesome early morning wreck. The accident occurred at about 9:20 a.m. on Friday, May 8, 2026, at Aku village near Osara, along the busy highway that links the north‑central to the south‑west of Nigeria. According to the Kogi State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Lawal Fagge, the ill‑fated vehicle was a Toyota Hiace bus with registration number BUU 17 ZD, travelling from Jos, Plateau State, to Lagos. The bus carried 22 passengers, comprising 21 males and only one female.
The crash, which Fagge blamed squarely on driver fatigue, saw the bus travelling at top speed before the driver apparently lost control. The vehicle veered off the asphalt, ran off the road, and plunged under a bridge, crushing the front section and killing 16 occupants instantly. Among the dead were 15 males and the only female passenger in the vehicle. Six other passengers survived with various degrees of injury. “The driver was clearly tired. The bus was on top speed, and we suspect he may have dozed off. That is why we always warn drivers to rest after every four hours of driving,” Fagge said during a telephone conversation with reporters.
Officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Kogi State Command, immediately responded to a distress call from passers‑by and residents of Aku village. The rescue team extracted the six injured passengers from the wreckage and rushed them to nearby health centres in Osara and the Specialist Hospital in Lokoja for proper medical examination. The dead bodies were recovered and deposited at the Ankuri Mortuary in Lokoja. Fagge confirmed that the FRSC had notified the families of the deceased and was working with the transport company to identify the driver and the owners of the vehicle.
The tragedy has sent shockwaves through the communities along the route, which is a major artery for travelers moving between the North and the commercial capital, Lagos. The Lokoja‑Okene highway has witnessed a series of fatal accidents over the years, many of which have been linked to excessive speeding, poor road conditions, and driver fatigue. On April 2, 2026, a similar crash on the same highway claimed eight lives when a trailer lost its brakes and rammed into stationary vehicles. The FRSC has consistently warned commercial drivers to avoid night travel and to take mandatory rest breaks, but enforcement remains a challenge.
In his statement, Sector Commander Fagge expressed deep condolences to the families of the victims and urged road users to be safety conscious and obey traffic rules and regulations while on transit. “We cannot continue to lose our citizens to preventable accidents. Drivers must avoid overspeeding and fatigue. They should rest after driving for four hours. Passengers should also speak up if they notice their driver is behaving dangerously,” he said. The FRSC also reiterated its commitment to clamping down on reckless driving through increased patrols and mobile courts along the corridor.
The bus, which was reportedly carrying traders and families, had left Jos early Friday morning. Witnesses at the scene described a horrific sight of mangled metal and bodies trapped under the bridge. One of the rescued passengers, who asked not to be named, told reporters from his hospital bed that he had warned the driver to slow down moments before the crash. “I told him, ‘Oga, you are going too fast.’ He just laughed and said he knew the road. Then the next thing I remember, I was flying through the air,” the survivor said. He sustained a broken arm and deep cuts on his face.
The Kogi State Government has not yet issued an official statement on the accident, but the Commissioner for Transport is expected to visit the scene on Saturday. The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has called for an investigation into the mechanical condition of the bus, though FRSC officials said the vehicle appeared to be in road‑worthy condition before the crash. The union also urged drivers to adhere to the mandatory six‑hour rest rule when traveling long distances.
As the sun set over Aku village, the mangled remains of the Toyota Hiace bus were towed to the FRSC depot in Lokoja. The injured remained in hospital, with doctors saying they were in stable condition. The families of the 16 dead braced for the painful task of claiming bodies and arranging burials. For many, the journey to Lagos ended on a highway under a bridge, a grim reminder that on Nigeria’s roads, the line between life and death is often only a moment of fatigue.
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