At least 16 road travelers have been burnt to death in road accident that occured on Friday along Ode-Omu, Ayeedade Local Government Area of Osun State after a Lexus car collided with a commercial bus.
An eyewitness said that the bus driver lost control of the wheel immediately after the collision, causing the vehicle to veer off the road before summesaulting.
After the commercial vehicle summersaulted, a gas cylinder at the back of the vehicle exploded and incinerated the bus with passengers in it, SpeedUp9ja learnt.
Former NURTW Chairman, Alhaji Kareem Isau in Ode-Omu branch, explained that, while evacuating the victims with men of Federal Road Safety Corps and police, 16 passengers, including children were burnt to death. According to him:
“Four people escaped death including a corps member and a security operative. Those that were inside the bus according to one of the people that escaped death said they boarded the bus at Aregbe motor park.
“The victim said a nursing mother was in the vehicles including five children. When we were evacuating the passengers that were burnt to death in the presence of police and road safety, we counted 16 of them.”
Spokesperson of the Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), Osun Command, Agnes Ogungbemi could not ascertain the numbers of the victims but blamed gas cylinder explosion for the fire after the accident.
“No detail for now because we have not been able to ascertain the dead but the injured have been taken to Ise Oluwa Medical Center Odeomu. One of the vehicles carried gas ,it exploded and caused the fire out break,” he said.