Paul Orude, Bauchi
No fewer than 28 people including 25 students, three teachers of Government Comprehensive Day Secondary School (GCDSS), Misau, Bauchi State, and a driver, have been crushed to death by a trailer on Tuesday, February 13, 2018.
Daily Sun reports that the students and their teachers were travelling to Gidan Dan Hausa in Kano State for an excursion inside a Hummer Toyoto, a commercial vehicle, when they had a collision with a trailer at about 10 in the morning, killing all students, their three teachers and the driver in the process.
The accident occurred at Gaya village in Kano State at about 10:00 a.m., according to sources, and the victims were Junior Secondary School (JSS) 1 and 2 students of GCDSS, Misau.
A Biology teacher from the school, Ya’u Mohammed, said that 22 of the students and the three teachers died on the spot, while three of students later died on their way to the hospital in Darazo.
When contacted, the Federal Road Safety Corps’ (FRSC) Head of Operations, Mr. Paul Guar, confirmed that the accident, having occurred at Gaya, is under Jigawa jurisdiction.
Ya’u said that the victims corpses have all been evacuated from the scene of accident and transported to Misau from where they would be handed to their families for burial.
Efforts to reach the school principal at the time of this report proved abortive, but another state teacher, Mohammed Kaka, said that it was a sad period for the school management.
“We lost three of our dedicated and intelligent teachers and the students who died were quite promising. It is a sad one,” Kaka said.
The Commissioner for Education in the state, Engineer Nuhu Gidadi, who is also the Deputy Governor, could not be reached at the time of filing this report.
When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Governor Mohammed Abubakar on Education, Sabo Mohammed, described the development as heart-breaking.
“On behalf of the state government and education stakeholders, I wish to express my sincere condolence to the Emir of Misau Ahaji Ahmad Suliman and as well as parents and families of the deceased for this sad loss,” Mohammed said.
“As I am speaking to you now, the Governor is deeply sad by the development and he has detailed the Commissioner of Education and myself to pay a condolence visit to the Emir and families of the deceased. May their gentle souls rest in peace and may God forgive them their sins and give them eternal rest.”
Details of the cause of the accident are sketchy at this time, but our correspondent learnt that a mass burial is about to take place in Misau for the victims