A multiple crash on the Potiskum-Maiduguri highway, involving three vehicles on Monday killed 35 people, including 19 church members on their way back from Lagos where they attended a religious meeting.
“All the 19 members of Redeemed Christian Church of God who were travelling in one bus were burnt beyond recognition as the bus caught fire on collision with the other two vehicles which also burst in flames shortly afterwards,” said Yusuf Sani, spokesman of the Federal Road Safety Commission in Yobe state.
“The victims in the other two vehicles were returning from a wedding.” The spokesman blamed the collision, which occurred on the highway, on speeding.
On Sunday, 20 traders returning from a local market were killed when the open van they were in collided with an articulated truck, Sani said, attributing the accident to “reckless overtaking”.
Sixteen of the 20 victims were girls who had been selling wares, he added.
Another 10 persons also died in another crash on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
“We recorded 55 deaths in two road crashes on Sunday and Monday due to speeding and reckless overtaking,” said Yusuf Sani, Nigerian Road Safety spokesman for Yobe state.