TRAGIC: Osun Auto Crash Death Toll Is at Least 8

 

No fewer than eight passengers, including a pregnant woman, reportedly died in a ghastly auto crash on Monday on the Gbongan-Ibadan Expressway.

The News Agency of Nigeria gathered that the victims were travelling in a bus from Ede to Owode in Osun at about 6.40 a.m. when the accident happened.

A witness said that the affected bus passengers were traders from a nearby market who had boarded the ill-fated vehicle for the trip. He said a light blue Golf car marked AG 19 EDE coming from Ede caused the accident when it somersaulted suddenly on high speed.

It was further learnt that the car crashed into two other vehicles—an ash coloured KIA marked KUJ 74 AJ and a white Toyota Hiace also marked XR 930 ABC.

The multiple accident that resulted led to the death of eight persons while a few others were rushed to the hospital for medical attention. The accident spot was said to have been thronged by sympathisers while officials of the Ambulance Service evacuated the corpses of victims.

The surge of the crowd at the scene of the accident caused a gridlock with commercial activities temporarily halted.

Imoh Etuk, the state Sector Commander of the FRSC, who confirmed the death toll, lamented that the accident was due to violation of traffic rules.

Mr. Etuk said the corpses of the victims had since been deposited at the morgue of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH-TH) in Osogbo. He said officials of the FRSC and the state Ambulance Service (O’ Ambulance) as well as the police were involved in the rescue operation.

Mr. Etuk, who said the victims were confirmed dead at the hospital, warned motorists to desist from over-speeding.

NAN reports that the identities of the victims were yet to be ascertained as at the time of filing in this report.

The commission, he said, was making efforts through the National Union of Road Transport Workers to identify the victims.

(NAN)