Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
At least five persons have died in Ebonyi as a bus filled with passengers caught fire.
The incident, it was learned, happened in Abakaliki, capital of the state, along the Abakaliki-Enugu expressway near G-hostel junction.
It was not immediately clear where the bus was coming from into the city.
Sources said the bus was coming into the state at around 20 minutes past midnight when it caught fire.
Police spokesperson in the state, Joshua Ụkandu, confirmed the incident.
He said the car ran into some obstacles on the road placed by a maintenance team renovating some bad sections of the road after which it caught fire burning about five persons to death.
According to him, seven other passengers suffered severe burns and are receiving treatment at the hospital.
He said: “The incident happened around 00:20hrs. There are some bad spots on the road where some reconstruction is ongoing. So the driver may not have been aware and so ran into the obstacles on the road and lost control.
“The vehicle caught fire immediately after it ran into the obstacles and five persons burnt to death while seven others were rescued with severe burns and rushed to the Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki(AE-FUTHA) where they are receiving treatment,” he said.
