Mob attacks bus driver after two die in accident

A motorcycle rider and his passenger were killed on Friday morning when a vehicle rammed into the motorcycle at Bukuru Low-Cost Junction in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.

A mob subsequently attacked the driver of the vehicle, but his condition remained unclear as of the time of filing this report.

Two eyewitnesses, Sharon Ibas and Tuwan Timothy, independently corroborated accounts of the crash, including the collision between a Toyota Hiace bus, a Peugeot Boxer J5, and the motorcycle.

Mr Ibas said the accident occurred at about 9 a.m. as he travelled to Abuja in a Blue Whales Toyota Hiace bus.

He said their driver stopped near the junction, where youths and vigilante personnel were controlling traffic during a funeral procession.

According to him, the Peugeot Boxer J5, approaching from behind, failed to stop and rammed the bus’s rear.

Mr Ibas said the Peugeot driver subsequently hit the motorcycle, killing both rider and passenger at the scene.

“While our vehicle was approaching Bukuru, there was a procession of people carrying a corpse. Youths and vigilante members were stopping vehicles to control traffic. Our driver stopped, but the driver of the Peugeot Boxer refused to stop and hit our vehicle from behind,” he said.

Mr Ibas said youths at the scene descended on the Peugeot driver and beat him severely.

He added that security personnel later arrived and rescued the driver, although he could not confirm whether the man survived the assault.

“The driver was lynched by angry youths. I am not sure if he survived the beating. Security officials arrived and rescued him,” he said.

He said the mob also destroyed the Peugeot vehicle.

Mr Timothy, the second eyewitness, also confirmed Mr Ibas’s account of the incident, providing additional corroboration of the reported sequence of events.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Plateau State, Yakubu Longsan, said he had contacted the command’s Bukuru unit, whose officials told him the accident had not been reported to them.

Mr Longsan advised members of the public to report road crashes to the FRSC and contact the corps for updates on rescue operations and emergency response.

The incident comes days after a road crash along Bukuru Express Road in Jos South killed a father and his son and injured seven others.

The FRSC attributed the crash to overspeeding and reckless driving.