Road crash kills 45 Nigeria troops back from Darfur
May 22, 2008 (ABUJA) — A fuel tanker crashed into a military convoy in northern Nigeria late on Wednesday, killing 45 soldiers who had just returned from peacekeeping duties in Sudan’s Darfur region, the Nigerian army said on Thursday.
The soldiers, who returned on Tuesday after six months in Darfur, were travelling from the capital Abuja to their base in the remote northeastern state of Borno when the truck rammed into their convoy, army spokesman Emeka Onwuamaegbu said.
“The Chief of Army Staff … announces with grief the untimely death of one officer and 44 soldiers of the Nigerian army who lost their lives last night in a motor accident along Bauchi-Potiskum road,” Onwuamaegbu said.
An unspecified number of soldiers injured in the crash were being treated in hospital, the spokesman added.
Nigerian roads are among the deadliest in the world because of cavernous potholes, poorly maintained vehicles and dangerous driving. At least 5,000 people die on the roads every year, most of them at night.
At least 33 people, 28 of them members of the elite Mobile Police corps on their way to an assignment in the oil-producing state of Bayelsa, died when their bus crashed at night into a truck in central Benue state last June.
Most Nigerian motorists have never taken driving lessons as a licence can easily be obtained — without a test — for less than $50.
(Reuters)
Wise Man
Road crash kills 45 Nigeria troops back from Darfur
I am personally extending this deepest condolence of Sudanese people to Negerian families who have lost their loved one in that unexpected incident. we were proud of your assistant, services your soldiers were providing to Sudanese (Dorfurians), was a work of sacrifice so thanks Nigeria for the great job you have done to us (Sudanese). For now your grief is ours as well and we share it all so you not alone at this sadest moment and I therefore pray that may Mighty God rest their souls in peace?