Lagos - Sixty people were killed when a coach crashed with an oncoming truck, slid off a road and plunged into a river in southern Nigeria, police said Friday.
The driver, who was among the dead, lost control of the coach when overtaking another vehicle in the early hours of Thursday morning on the expressway linking Lagos and Benin City, police told reporters.
The coach smashed into a truck, slid off the road and plunged into the Ovia River, about 20km west of Benin City, the police official said, confirming newspaper reports.
"There were five survivors. About 60 people died," said the police spokesman. The survivors were taken to hospital, he said.
Among the dead was a young woman preparing for her wedding next month, the newspaper The Guardian reported, quoting her fiance.
"We were planning to get married in December. She left for Lagos and now I will never see her again," he said.
Road accidents with high numbers of fatalities are extremely frequent in Nigeria.
The accident came the same day as 15 people died in Lagos when a mini-bus fell into Lagos lagoon after colliding with a bigger bus on a bridge in the city.
The Guardian reported on Friday that 20 people had been killed when a lorry on which 20 people were travelling had plunged into a river near Mangu in Platea State, central Nigeria, on Tuesday.
Seventeen of those aboard died instantly and three more died later in hospital, the paper said. - Sapa-AFP
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