17 people died in a ghastly motor accident in Borno state-(Graphic photos)

                                 

Seventeen Maiduguri-bound passengers were killed in an auto crash along Maiduguri-Damaturu highway when an 18-seater bus collided with a fuel tanker on Friday morning,

According to eyewitnesses, the bus, which was conveying mostly young persons, suddenly swerved off its lane and landed in front of an oncoming fuel tanker.

Ngari Modu, a resident of Benisheik told reports;

"the bus was going on high speed when it suddenly skid off its lane and ran headlong towards an oncoming fuel tanker which"

 "The tanker ran over the bus which immediately caused the two vehicles to catch fire. Seventeen out of the 18 persons in the bus burned to death, while only one person managed to come out alive,"he said.

The accident caused hours of gridlock on the highway as security personnel tried to secure the area to prevent travellers putting themselves in harms way as the fire from the fuel tanker continued to burn for hours.

Efforts to get the sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, S.U Ilyasu, for comments, was not successful as his phone could not connect.

See photos below...