Twelve people died instantly in a ghastly accident which occurred along Okene-Lokoja highway in the early hours of Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, gathered that the accident, which involved a luxury bus with registration number Lagos KRD 799 LC and a truck loaded with cattle with registration number Katsina 711 KTN occurred at a spot at Irepeni Village at about 5a.m.
An eyewitness told NAN that the accident occurred when the luxury bus collided with the truck.
The eyewitness said the bus was trying to avoid a barricade erected on the road by armed robbers and in the process collided with the truck coming from the opposite direction.
According to the eyewitness, more that 30 cows were also killed in the accident.
Confirming the accident, the Kogi State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Charles Abochi said that 73 persons were involved in the accident out of which 12 , comprising eight men and four women, died on the spot.
He said that 15 persons, including a female child, 12 men and three women sustained varying degrees of injuries in the accident.
Mr. Abochi said that the injured were taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja for treatment, while the corpses were taken to the morgues of the Kogi State Specialist Hospital, Lokoja and Alheri Hospital at Kabba junction.
He said that the FRSC had launched a full scale investigation to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the accident.