Seventeen persons, among them four children, died in a fatal road accident that occurred at Abaji town along Abuja-Lokoja road yesterday evening.

It was learnt that 10 others, including two children that sustained various degrees of injuries, were rescued and taken to Abaji General Hospital by the rescue team officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps. Daily Trust further gathered that the commuter bus was conveying passengers from Lagos coming Abuja, when the incident happened.

A witness, Ishaq Yahaya, said the accident occurred around 6:22 pm when an 18-seater Toyota Hiace bus with registration number XQ 347 AGL, overtook another vehicle before it lost control and had a head on collision with an oncoming DAF truck with registration number ENU 523 XA, killing 17 people on the spot.

"The bus driver overtook dangerously while it was raining and in the process lost control of his steering before he collided with a DAF truck coming from Gwagwalada end", he said.

Our reporter, who visited the scene a few minutes after the crash, saw 12 dead bodies with men of the FRSC and some sympathizers evacuating the corpses to a waiting van.

Some residents and soldiers also volunteered to control vehicular traffic caused by the accident, while some women who trooped out to the scene were seen wailing as the corpses littered the road.

Contacted, Abaji unit commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Moses Audu confirmed the death of 17 people, saying the corpses were conveyed to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospitals morgue at Gwagwalada.

He also confirmed that ten prsons, including two children that sustained serious injuries, were taken to Abaji General Hospital for treatment.