At least five people on Friday died in Ebonyi State, south-east Nigeria, as a bus filled with passengers caught fire.

It was gathered that the incident happened in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi State, along the Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway, near the G-hostel junction.

It was not immediately clear where the bus came from into the city.

Sources said the bus came into the state around 20 minutes past midnight when it caught fire.

The police spokesperson in Ebonyi, Joshua Ụkandu, confirmed the incident.

He said the vehicle ran into some obstacles on the road placed by a maintenance team renovating some bad sections of the road, and then it caught fire.

Mr Ukandu confirmed that five people were burnt to death.

According to him, seven other passengers suffered severe burns and were receiving treatment at the hospital.

He said: “The incident happened around 00:20hrs. There are some bad spots on the road where some reconstruction is ongoing. The driver may not have been aware and so ran into the obstacles on the road and lost control.

‘The vehicle caught fire immediately after it ran into the obstacles, and five persons were burnt to death while seven others were rescued with severe burns and rushed to the Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, where they are receiving treatment,” he said.