At least 20 athletes from the Kano State contingent have been confirmed dead following a devastating motor accident at Dakatsalle Bridge in the Kura Local Government Area of Kano State.
The tragic incident occurred as the athletes were returning from the just-concluded National Sports Festival held in Abeokuta, Ogun State. According to reports, the bus transporting the team—carrying 30 athletes in total—plunged from the bridge on Saturday, resulting in multiple fatalities and injuries.
Chairman of the Kano State Sports Commission, Umar Fagge, confirmed the heartbreaking development.
“As I am talking to you now, we have counted 19 dead bodies,” Fagge stated, visibly shaken by the incident. He added that many others sustained varying degrees of injuries in the crash.
The exact cause of the accident remains unclear, though the severity has sent shockwaves across the sporting community and the state at large.
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Ado Salisu, a former Vice President of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), also confirmed the tragedy. He noted that victims were still being transported to Kura General Hospital for urgent medical attention.
When reached for comment, the Public Relations Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Kano Sector Command, Abdullahi Labaran, acknowledged the accident but refrained from confirming casualty figures.
“We just received the report of the accident, so, I cannot confirm the exact number of casualties at the moment,” he said.
The Kano State government and sports authorities are expected to release an official statement and initiate investigations into the incident in the coming days. Meanwhile, families and teammates are mourning the loss of young lives that represented the state on a national stage.