Four people, including two children, were killed on Tuesday in a road crash involving a commercial tricycle and a water tanker at Kanani Academy junction, behind the All Progressives Congress square in Gombe State.
The crash involved eight people, comprising two adult males, two male children and four female children, according to the Federal Road Safety Corps Sector Commander in Gombe State, Samson Kaura.
Confirming the incident, Kaura said eyewitness accounts indicated that the tricycle, popularly known as Keke Napep, rammed into the water tanker from behind.
“Yes, there was a crash as you mentioned. From the eyewitness account we have, it was a Keke Napep that crashed into a water tanker from behind,” he said.
Kaura explained that the FRSC did not conduct the rescue operation because the report of the accident reached the command late.
“Though we were not the ones who carried out the rescue because the report came to us late, my men were there and visited the Specialist Hospital where the victims were taken for treatment,” he added.
According to the sector commander, four people died in the crash, while two others sustained injuries. The remaining two occupants, both adult males, were uninjured.
However, the figures supplied by the sector commander on the injured victims were inconsistent. The breakdown listed three people, comprising one adult male, one male child and one female child, despite the stated total of two injured persons.
The victims were reportedly taken to the Federal Teaching Hospital and the Specialist Hospital in Gombe for medical attention.
The crash also involved schoolchildren from Government Day Secondary School, Ahmadu Gombe; Government Day Junior Secondary School, Jekadafari, under the Universal Basic Education programme; and Jekadafari Primary School.