Nine passengers died on Thursday evening in a gruesome auto accident that occurred on the Emure-Ile-Uso express road along Owo, in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State.
The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Ondo State Command, which confirmed the sad incident to a SaharaReporters correspondent, also said four passengers were seriously injured in the fatal accident.
The Commission disclosed to SaharaReporters that the “deadly” road accident involved a Toyota Camry Car with Reg No. LRS 163 AAA, a Toyota Hiace Bus with Reg No. FG 357 BOT, and Toyota Previa Bus with Reg No. AKR 452 NND, which had a head-on collusion.
Eyewitnesses and other transporters who saw the evacuation of the victims from the scene told SaharaReporters that the dead passengers, among which were students, were burned to death beyond recognition.
One of the witnesses said the double accident involving the three vehicles caused heavy traffic on the express road as sympathizers made a frantic effort to rescue the pained victims before the timely arrival of officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), in the RS 11.22 Owo unit command.
“It was a result of reckless driving and overtaking on the side of drivers of the two Toyota vehicle who were in a hurry to overtake the Toyota Camry car”, a witness lamented.
Our SaharaReporters correspondent authoritatively gathered that a gas cylinder kept at the back-boot of the Toyota Camry exploded and caused an intense fire, which spread to other vehicles involved in the accident.
An officer with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), in the RS 11.22 Owo unit, who spoke to SaharaReporters correspondent in confidentiality, also blamed the drivers of the vehicles for wrongful overtaking and dangerous over-speeding.
The officer added that the Toyota Hiace bus loaded with passenger was coming from Akure and heading to Ikare Akoko when it crashed into an oncoming vehicle while trying to speedily overtake from the wrong side of the road.
“I can authoritatively confirm to you that nine persons burnt to death and four others got injured. Some students whose identity we could not immediately ascertained were among the dead that our officers record in the fatal accident.
“It was an herculean task before our officers could rescued the survivors, because some were already dead and burnt into ashes while others have trapped inside the bus. We have use the Fireman-Axe to cut the edge of the vehicle and immediately rescued the ones still alive”, the officer said.
According to the officer, a gas cylinder dangerously kept at the boot of the car further ignited fire not a premium motor spirit as been speculated.
“One of the drivers kept a gas cylinder at the back of his boot and this caused further damages. There was nothing like a vehicle carrying petrol”, he clarified.
Our SaharaReporters correspondent further learnt that the victims were taken to the Federal Medical Hospital, in Owo, which is seven-kilometer drive to the scene of the incident.
Bodies of the dead have been dumped at the hospital’s morgue while the survivors are currently receiving treatment at the male and female wards of the facility.
Nurses at the hospital told exclusively told our correspondent that families of the victims have arrived the facility to identified corpses of their loved ones.
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