Osun State Fire Service on Friday said five lives were lost in the fatal accident involving a gas tanker and a commercial bus that occured in Ile-Ife, Osun state.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that many commuters were trapped in the accident, which happened along Ife/Ibadan Expressway on Thursday.
The spokesman for Osun Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Kehinde Adeleke, whose agency was among the first security agencies to arrive at the scene, said about 17 people were in the bus when the accident occurred.
However, while providing an update regarding the accident on Friday, the spokesman for Osun State Fire Service, Ibrahim Adekunle, said five passengers, two male, two females and a toddler, were bought out of the wreckage dead.
According to him, the remains of the deceased had been deposited at the morgue of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife.
The statement partly read, “On Thursday, September 12, 2024 as a gas tanker overran a commercial bus popularly known as ‘Sabo-Lagere’ which conveyed an unspecified number of passengers and crushed them to death. They both swerved off the road into a ditch along Ibadan Express Road, Ajebandele, Ile-Ife.
“The incident was reported to our Ile-Ife Zonal Command at around 12 noon and they mobilised to the scene and joined the headquarters from Abere to give adequate backup because of the nature of materials involved in the crash (LPG).
“After frantic efforts by the men of the State Fire Service in conjunction with FRSC Ile-Ife Zonal Command led by SRC Kenny Olorundare and some local residents, five passengers were recovered from the wreckage which comprises two men and women each and a toddler. They are subsequently conveyed to the OAU Teaching Hospital morgue.”
Describing the incident as unfortunate and avoidable, the Director of Osun State Fire Service, Mr. Ismail Olaniyi, sympathised with families of the deceased, and Ile-Ife community.
