A speeding trailer slammed into a bus carrying University of Jos students in the early hours of Wednesday, killing eight instantly and injuring two others on Zaria Road, eyewitnesses and authorities said.
The students were returning from a national conference of the Nigerian Association of Public Safety Sciences in Kaduna when the trailer hit their bus from behind around 2 a.m. near Rayfield, survivors told reporters.
“The impact flung bodies everywhere,” said Samuel David, a student who survived with minor injuries. “We screamed for help, but the trailer driver sped off.”
Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Plateau Sector Commander Alphonsus Godwin confirmed the deaths and blamed excessive speed by the trailer driver.
“The truck lost control and rammed the bus at high speed,” he told journalists at the scene.
Police spokesman Alabo Alfred said officers have launched a manhunt for the fleeing driver and impounded the trailer after tracing it to a nearby park.
Vice-Chancellor Tanko Ishaya cut short an official trip abroad and rushed back to Jos. “We are devastated,” he said in a statement.
“These were brilliant final-year students full of promise.”
The university has declared three days of mourning and suspended lectures.
Students gathered at the campus terminus, weeping and demanding urgent action against reckless truck drivers.
Wednesday’s crash brings the death toll on the ever-busy Kaduna-Jos highway to at least 27 in the past one month, according to FRSC records.
Road safety advocates renewed calls for mandatory speed limiters on trucks and 24-hour highway patrols.
“Young lives keep vanishing because we refuse to enforce simple laws,” said Patrick Anam, coordinator of Road Safety Awareness Campaign Nigeria.
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The two injured students are receiving treatment at Plateau Specialist Hospital and are responding to treatment, doctors said.
