Between seventeen and eighteen passengers have died in a ghastly auto-crash at Ishara axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in Ogun State.

Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) puts the preliminary figure at 17, while Ogun State Road Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) said 18 died in the accident.

All of them were burnt beyond recognition after their Mazda bus caught fire before Ishara bridge.

The accident which occurred at 5 am on Friday, involved two vehicles, a Mazda Bus marked ZT 728 KLD and an unmarked Dangote tanker.

The state sector commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ahmed Umar in a statement by the command’s spokesperson, superintendent route commander, Florence Okpe, said both vehicles had a head-on-collision, resulting into a fire outbreak.

Umar describes the crash as avoidable, if traffic regulation had been respected.

He directs members of public seeking more details to contact the FRSC unit at Ogere.

Meanwhile, TRACE said that two of the eighteen passengers who died in the crash are females, while the gender of others could not be immediately recognized.

According to TRACE spokesman, commander Babatunde Akinbiyi, the Dangote tanker crossed to the opposite lane and collided with the passenger bus.

According to him, the bus was heading to Lagos.