Tragedy struck in Okinni, Oyo state, late Wednesday evening, as a bus conveying some final year students of Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, returning from a picnic, along Osogbo/Ifon/Oyo Boundary road, crashed and caught fire.
A resident of Okinni, identified as Adeyanju, who spoke to our correspondent on Thursday, said that the driver alongside a lady and a male student were burnt to death while five other occupants were rescued by the operatives of Osun Ambulance Scheme that responded to the distress call from the scene of the accident which happened at about 9:50pm, near Ojutu Bridge, Ilobu.
He narrated that the driver of the bus conveying the victims, had hit a commercial motorcyclist in the town, and was trying to escape the rage of some angry residents chasing after him.
“Few meters from Ojutu Bridge, the driver lost control of the vehicle and the bus somersaulted and caught fire. Some people were rescued before the fire could spread, but three people were burnt to death. Operatives of O’Ambulance Scheme came around to rescue some of the victims,” Adeyanju said.
Speaking to newsmen in an interview, the Head of Operations, O’Ambulance Scheme, Elizabeth Arowosafe, said the organisation received a distress call around 9:50pm on Wednesday that a bus conveying some final year students of LAUTECH, returning from a picnic was involved in the accident.
She said, “We responded around 9:53pm. I was told the driver had hit someone in Okinni and was speeding to avoid some people around the area chasing after him, when the incident happened.
“The driver alongside a lady and a male student were burnt to death. We were able to rescue 5 people. We rushed them to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital in Osogbo. The hospital did well. In fact, there was no enough space to accommodate the injured people and we had to leave one of our stretchers for them to use.
“We could not recognise the dead victims. They were travelling inside a bus. I learnt that the occupants of the bus are final year students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, who went to Erin-Ijesa waterfall for an excursion.
“One of the injured students confirmed to us that they were coming from an excursion. She gave us names of victims, but she didn’t have the strength to name the others.”
Also commenting on the crash, the Public Relations Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Agnes Ogungbemi, said the accident was caused by violation of speed limit which led to loss of control.
