The number of casualties resulting from the tragic road accident involving students from Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, escalated from the initial count of three to six, as three additional passengers succumbed to their injuries while receiving treatment at the hospital following the crash.
As previously reported, the accident occurred when a bus carrying occupants, including students, was traveling along the Osogbo/Ifon/Oyo boundary road late on Wednesday. Tragically, three individuals lost their lives in the fiery crash.
However, in a glimmer of hope amidst the tragedy, six other passengers were fortunate to be rescued by the dedicated personnel of the Osun Ambulance Scheme. These responders promptly reacted to the distress call from the accident site, situated near Ojutu Bridge in Ilobu.
A resident from Okinni, known as Adeyanju, provided additional context to the unfortunate incident. According to his account, the bus’s driver had collided with a commercial motorcyclist within the town and, in an attempt to evade the wrath of outraged residents pursuing him, was involved in the accident.
The community and the entire region are left in mourning as they grapple with this devastating loss of life.
“A 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 the O’Ambulance Scheme came around to rescue some of the victims,” Adeyanju said.
During an interview with our correspondent, the Head of Operations, Osun Ambulance Scheme, Elizabeth Arowosafe, said the organization received a distress call around 9:50 pm on Wednesday that a bus conveying some final year students of Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso returning from a picnic was involved in an accident.
She said, “We responded around 9:53 pm. 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 six people. We rushed them to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital in Osogbo. The hospital did well. There was no adequate space to accommodate the injured people and we had to leave one of our stretchers with them to use.
“We could not recognize the dead victims. They were traveling inside a bus. I learned that the occupants of the bus were 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 some victims, but she didn’t have the strength to name the others.”
But when contacted for an update later on Thursday, Osun Ambulance Service, Head of Operations, Arowosafe, said three other victims of the accident died.
She said, “I just left UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital now. Three of those we took there survived. We have moved two others to UCH in Ibadan. One of them is still at UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital. The other three could not make it. We now have six corpses.”
Also commenting, the Public Relations Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Agnes Ogungbemi, who confirmed the accident, said the crash was caused by a violation of the speed limit which led to the loss of control.