Seven people of the same extended family were reportedly burnt to death in a fatal accident on Friday night in Delta State.
The accident reportedly involved a Sienna space car and a flat truck along Koko community and Koko junction of the Benin-Warri highway in Warri North Local Government Area of the state.
Tribune Online gathered at the weekend that the family was returning from the burial of a deceased mother when their car rammed into a stationary flat truck and caught fire which burnt the family beyond recognition.
Among the dead was the wife of a 49-year-old man, Daniel Burkiti, and his six other relatives, it was gathered.
A close relative of Burkiti who narrated the incident at the family home in Sapele said the seven deceased died while on their way to the burial of Mr Burkiti’s mother who passed some months ago. It was gathered that the boat Pinky, Daniel’s wife and the six other relations were travelling in from Koko suddenly broke down midway into the journey.
Only a passenger, now recuperating at a hospital in Oghara, was said to have survived the accident, while the truck driver reportedly bolted away for fear of mob action.
The Chairman of Warri North Local Government Area, Mr Aduge Okorodudu, was said to have visited the only survivor with a promise of financial assistance.
Meanwhile, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Delta Command, Mr Rindom Kumven, in a telephone chat with Tribune Online on Sunday, confirmed the incident, saying he had mobilised his men to the scene of the accident, describing the crash as a “terrible accident never heard of before in my time here.”
Kumven, who commiserated with families of the deceased said a stationary heavy-duty truck that was carrying no luggage was rammed into by the Sienna space car conveying the seven family members coming from a burial on Friday night. He also added the occupants of the car and the truck were burnt beyond recognition due to the impact.
The FRSC boss said he later got a report that the burnt remains of the deceased had been given a mass burial, warning motorists to beware of night journeys and abstain from keeping keg of fuel in their cars.
