Dozens of people were also injured when the driver ‘lost control’ of his vehicle and plowed into a crowd in the southeastern port city of Calabar.
At least seven people were killed and more than 20 injured when a car plowed into the famous carnival in Calabar, southeastern Nigeria, a highway security official said.
Maikano Hassan, the local commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, said in a statement Wednesday that a Toyota Camry lost control and crashed into a crowd watching in the port city near the border with Cameroon.
Seven people died and 29 were injured on Tuesday, some of them in critical condition, according to the statement. The driver survived but was injured.
While local media reported “a number of deaths”, the BBC put the death toll at 14, adding that the event attracted local and foreign tourists, for the first time. This is the first place since COVID-19 restrictions have canceled it for the past two years. .
It cited police as saying the driver was “drunk” and lost control of the vehicle.
The incident happened as the crowd was watching a motorcycle parade in front of a mosque in the Bogobiri district.
Calabar, the capital of the Cross River state, hosts one of West Africa’s most famous carnivals every December. The cyclists’ performance was one of the main highlights of the event, known as one of Africa’s biggest street parties.
The official website says the event attracts nearly two million people each year.
Cross River Governor Ben Ayade called on police to arrest the driver, who he said sped away after the “crash”.
He also ordered them to investigate how the driver was able to enter an area that was said to have been closed for the carnival.
