Maize ladden vehicle crushes 14 children in Plateau state

Tragedy struck in Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State on Saturday as fourteen children were killed and nine others seriously injured when a vehicle, heavily loaded with maize ran into a group of Boys/Girls Brigade who were on a road walk.

Dailypost gathered Barkin-Ladi Local Government which is over 60km from Jos, was thrown into mourning due to the accident.
An eyewitness told our correspondent that the children were members of Boys and Girls Brigade from three different Churches within the locality. The churches include; Church of Christ in Nations(COCIN), Assemblies of God Church and Baptist Church.

He added that, traffic along the highway was paralyzed for nearly two hours as motorists plying the said route stopped to catch a glimpse of the children whose bodies were seen beside the road.

It was further revealed that the children, forty in number were between the ages of 12 to 16 years and were out as early as 6:00 am for their routine walk to keep fit, but while on their way back, precisely at Tundun Maza, a wagon skidded off the road and
rammed into them, killing 14 of them instantly.


 
It was further gathered that, immediately the incident occurred, both the driver and the owner of the maize, which the vehicle was conveying from Bokkos to Bukuru market, in Jos South Local Government, took to their heels, to avoid being lynched.

Meanwhile, the three affected Churches have suspended their weekend programmes and meetings to mourn the children who also doubled as security boys to the sad Churches during sunday services.

Their corpses have since been deposited at an undisclosed mortuary, while the injured have been transferred to Plateau State Specialist Hospital for further treatment.

-dailypost