Osun auto crash claims 16 lives

About 16 people have been roasted in an auto crash that happened on Friday, 29^th April, in Odeomu, Osun State.

An eyewitness identified as Fatai Lasisi and who was close to the scene said the two vehicles involved had it each other.

According to Lasisi, a commercial Mazda bus coming from Osogbo had been jammed by a private Lexus vehicle coming from Ikorodu, Lagos State and headed for Osogbo. The commerical bus which had a gas cylinder in its trunk suddenly lost control and was hit by the private vehicle, causing it to dive into a bush field flame up.

Also while giving account of the accident, Mr. Kareem Isau, ex-chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Odeomu Branch, said he showed up at the scene after the bus had exploded.

He confirmed that 16 persons lost their lives, which included 5 children, and were dragged out of the burnt vehicle. Fortunately, 3 passengers and the driver of the affected bus survived.

“I arrived the scene of the accident around 7pm on Friday. People I met there told me a Lexus vehicle coming Ibadan end hit a commercial Mazda bus coming from Osogbo going to Ibadan. The bus lost control and entered the bush. Immediately that happened, the bus caught fire because a gas cylinder was kept in the trunk of the vehicle,” said Isau.

He continued: “I saw that gas cylinder when it was brought it. The vehicle was already burning when I arrived the scene around 7pm. I was told the accident occured earlier. The Mazda bus left Aregbesola area in Osogbo going to Ibadan.

“Four people escaped: the driver of the vehicle, a security agent, a corps member and a lady. One of the four that survived, a lady, told us that the bus with 18-passenger capacity left Aregbesola Area on Friday for Ibadan.

“She also said some of the passengers were nursing mothers and carried their babies, while some passengers sat on each other’s lap. When we were removing the corpses from the vehicle, five children were packed together. In all we removed 16 corpses from the vehicle.”

Agnes Ogungbemi, the Osun Sector Public Education Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, was contacted regarding the incident. Reacting to the situation, she said official casualty figure was not yet available.

She said, “No detail for now because we have not been able to ascertain the dead, but the injured have been taken to the hospital. “One of the vehicles carried gas, it exploded and cause the fire outbreak.”