President Muhammadu Buhari has mourned the tragic demise of pupils of Providence Nursery and Primary School, who lost their lives Thursday when a school bus conveying the kids collided with a truck at Nkwo Junction, Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Mr. Buhari, in a statement issued Friday by his spokesman Femi Adesina, also commiserated with families of other victims who died in the incident.

Multiple local news reports said the accident claimed the lives of the bus driver, seven pupils and a teacher. Nine other pupils who sustained varying degrees of injury are receiving treatment at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu.

Enugu road safety chief Ogbonnaya Kalu pegged the total number of casualties at 21, News Agency of Nigeria reported.

Mr. Kalu told NAN that the fully-loaded school bus, which had 64 occupants comprising 61 pupils, two teachers and a driver, was fatally hit by a trailer at about 4:30 p.m yesterday, when the school children were returning home.

The newspaper also quoted an eyewitness Chidi Okoh to have partly attributed the accident to the narrowness of Nkwo Junction, scene of the incident.

“The truck pushed the school bus inside a big valley at Mmaku/Nkwo Junction. The narrowness of the road also contributed to the crash”, Mr. Okoh told NAN.

President Buhari, however, urged vehicle owners to ensure roadworthiness, as initial reports attributed the accident to brake-failure by the truck involved.