1. Two passenger buses near the Nigerian capital of Abuja crashed early Wednesday morning, April 3rd. According to Jonas Agwu, official of Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps, the mash up occurred when one of the drivers fell asleep at the wheel and swerved into the oncoming lane of traffic.
The World Health Organization shows that Nigeria currently has one of the highest fatality rates for traffic accidents, due in part at least to Nigeria’s poor roads and high usage of public transport. As in the case of this bus crash, with more people using buses on poorly paved roads, the likelihood of multiple deaths in one crash rises. The worn and potholed roads increase the likelihood of accidents altogether.
2. In Mitchell County, Georgia, a car (a Mazda Protege) hit a school bus on the Thursday morning run, sending twenty-one students to the hospital for examinations. Victor Hill, the district superintendent, said that only three students said they were sore after the crash. None were seriously injured.
The unknown driver of the Mazda is currently in Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in unknown condition.
3. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, police plan to arrest the bus driver and a reportedly belligerent passenger who were witnessed to have been fighting prior to the bus crash that sent the bus careening off of the thrity-foot viaduct onto the street below.
One bus crash survivor, Amanda Santana Silva said the passenger punched the driver after the driver apparently skipped a number of scheduled stops and then would not keep the doors open long enough for the passenger to disembark. The driver lost control just after the punch.
Buses are very common and highly used in Rio, though the drivers are often accused of speeding and running red lights.
4. In Papau New Guinea, a bus ran off a cliff and crashed into the Hukuk River below. The bus crash, which occurred Wednesday morning, April 3rd, happened in Murip Village and killed seventeen men, six women (including one who was pregnant), and one five-year-old girl. Four people, two men and two women, survived and are in critical condition.
The bus, full of Epilka tribespeople, was going to pick up the casket of fellow tribesman Henry Bonney.
“We were all travelling into town to pick up a casket and didn’t know such a thing would happen” he said.
He said about 100 boys made a human chain down the cliff to retrieve the bodies from the wreckage.
Provincial police commander Supt Martin Lakari described the accident as the worst ever road accident involving a 25-seater bus in the Highlands region.
Lakari said police were rushed to the scene and helped to get the bodies out and investigate the cause of the accident.
Crowds gathered at the hospital morgue yesterday to identify bodies of their loved ones.