No fewer than seven lives have been declared dead in an auto lone accident caused by a heavy downpour over the weekend when their car plunged into a river, during a torrential rainfall.
Trouble started on Saturday July 24th 2021, when the car veered off the road and went straight into the river in the outskirts of Tilden Fulani, a village along the ever-busy Bauchi-Jos highway in Toro Local Government Area of in Bauchi state.
Reports have it that seven passengers who were travelling in the green Opel Vectra with registration number: JNN 348 NC when the driver lost control and plunged into a river that was filled with water following a recent downpour.
A source in the village said that only two corpses were recovered from the river as of early Sunday morning while the whereabouts of the remaining five passengers could not yet be ascertained, saying that they might have drowned and washed away by the torrents of the river.
He further said that the wreckage of the car was removed from the river by the community members and passersby who stopped to help.
According to him, they could not ascertain the identity of the driver and passengers as well as their destination.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Bauchi State Command, SP Ahmed Wakil, who confirmed the incident said two corpses were recovered from the river.
He gave the identity of one of the two recovered bodies as Ibrahim Rabi’u (41), a resident of Miya Barkate village in Toro LGA of Bauchi state noting that the identity of the other corpse was yet to be identified.
Wakil said that the victims were taken to the Toro General Hospital where they were certified dead by a medical doctor adding that the corpses were handed over to their relatives for burial.
The Police Spokesman said: “During the search, we discovered that the Vectra was carrying seven passengers. A search operation is still ongoing to recover the remaining five passengers who were on board the car”.
He said that in the course of the search, a wallet was found containing a permanent voters’ card belonging to one Muhammad Alhassan of Zarmaganda, Jos, Plateau State.
