Unconscious victim of Madalla accident stranded in hospital

Health officials are battling to save the life of a woman rescued from a tragic road accident in Madalla town, Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, where seven persons lost their lives at the weekend. Abuja Metro reports that the incident occurred around 11:30 am. on Friday, involving the driver of a trailer truck […]

Health officials are battling to save the life of a woman rescued from a tragic road accident in Madalla town, Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, where seven persons lost their lives at the weekend.

Abuja Metro reports that the incident occurred around 11:30 am. on Friday, involving the driver of a trailer truck that experienced brake failure while descending toward the area from nearby Zuba town in the FCT.

The truck reportedly hit no fewer than four vehicles before stopping at the Madalla junction.

The driver directed the vehicle toward a road barrier that was recently mounted to force traffic onto a single lane of the Abuja-Kaduna highway, which was under construction.

Four persons were burned beyond recognition and were pulled out dead from a Hummer bus, one of the vehicles hit by the trailer.

Nine survivors of the incident, including the driver of the trailer, were rushed to the Lukas Hospital in the community.

The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Ugwoegbu Valentine, had earlier confirmed to Daily Trust that three of the injured persons brought to the hospital also died later in the day, raising the total number of casualties to seven.

Our reporter returned to the hospital yesterday and was told by a nurse on duty that four persons have since been discharged, leaving two persons still on admission.

The two remaining patients include the trailer’s driver, Sulaiman Rabiu, and a woman who was still unconscious during the visit.

The nurse stated that the woman remains unidentified, as no person has come forward to recognise her.

“She is however responding to the treatment as she is no longer on oxygen now,” the nurse added.

A resident of Madalla, Saleh Haruna, had earlier spoken on the incident, telling Abuja Metro that the driver of the bus where the four persons died was having an argument with the driver of a commercial Golf car, whom he had hit from behind.

“The driver of the bus, who was heading to Jigawa State, had offered to pay the Golf driver N200,000 as compensation for his damaged back screen but the Golf car’s driver insisted on being paid N400,000,” Haruna recounted.

“During this confrontation, the trailer ran over the bus and also partially hit the Golf car before the trailer caught fire, which escalated to the bus and burnt it entirely.”

Our reporter further learned that both the drivers of the two vehicles involved in the confrontation survived the incident, but the assistant driver of the bus was among the dead.

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Madalla was not present when our reporter visited the division but a senior police officer there confirmed the incident.

Abuja Metro reports that many accidents have been recorded around the Madalla and nearby Zuba towns since the commencement of construction work on the Abuja-Kaduna highway in that axis earlier this year.