By Peter Oriyomi
No fewer than sixteen persons were roasted alive on Friday evening in a fatal motor accident along Osogbo-Odeomu Road.
An eye witness account revealed that the accident happened around 6.00pm when two vehicles – a Mazda commercial bus and a Lexus car – had a head-on collision on the outskirts of Odeomu town.
An eye witness, Fatai Lasisi, said the Mazda bus after the collision swerved off the road into the bush and caught fire because of a filled gas cylinder on board.
According to him, the Ibadan-bound Mazda bus was coming from Osogbo and the Lexus private car coming from Ikorodu in Lagos State and was heading to Osogbo.
Another eye witness, Kareem Isau, who was former chairman of Odeomu branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, said he arrived the scene after the affected bus was already on fire.
He said: “Sixteen burnt bodies, including that of five children were removed from the burnt vehicle. But three passengers and the bus driver were rescued.
“I arrived at the accident spot around 7.00pm on Friday. People I met there told me a Lexus car coming Ibadan end hit a commercial Mazda bus coming from Osogbo going to Ibadan. The bus lost control and entered the bush. Immediately that happened, the bus caught fire because a gas cylinder was kept in the trunk of the vehicle.
“I saw that gas cylinder when it was brought out. The vehicle was already burning when I arrived the scene around 7.00pm. I was told the accident occured earlier. The Mazda bus going to Ibadan was said to have left Aregbesola area in Osogbo.
“Four persons, who were rescued were the driver of the vehicle, a security agent, a corps member and a lady. One of the survivors, a lady, told us that the bus with 18-passenger capacity left Aregbesola Area on Friday for Ibadan.
“She also said some of the passengers were nursing mothers and carried their babies, while some passengers sat on each others lap. When we were removing the corpses from the vehicle, five children were packed together. In all we removed 16 corpses from the vehicle.”
Meanwhile, the Osun Sector Command’s Public Education Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mrs. Agnes Ogungbemi, confirmed the accident but said official casualty figure was not yet available.
