Nigerian bus plunges into river killing 56

KANO, Nigeria - A packed Nigerian bus has crashed off a bridge and into a river, killing 56 people, a road safety official in the northern city of Kano said.

Only five people were known to have survived the crash, which took place at Tanburwa bridge about 20 km south of Kano. The bus was near the end of a 1,100 km journey from the commercial hub Lagos, in the southwest of Nigeria.

"We have taken 56 bodies to the Murtala Mohammed specialist hospital mortuary in Kano and five (survivors) are on admission in the same hospital," said Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim, Kano sector commander of the federal road safety court.

"I understand the driver may have dozed off out of fatigue and plunged into the river," he said. The driver was among the dead.

Huge death tolls are not uncommon in Nigerian road accidents. Africa's most populous country has an ageing network of potholed roads plied by rickety vehicles and many drivers ignore safety rules.

- REUTERS