Osun accident: Five LAUTECH students, driver burnt to death

Casualty figure in the road accident involving some students of the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, on Thursday rose from the initial three to six, following the death of another three passengers at the hospital where they were being treated after the crash.

The PUNCH earlier reported that three occupants of the bus travelling along Osogbo/Ifon/Oyo boundary road late on Wednesday were burnt to death in the road crash.

But six other occupants were reportedly rescued by the operatives of Osun Ambulance Scheme that responded to the distress call from the scene of the accident which occurred near Ojutu Bridge, Ilobu.

A resident of Okinni, identified as Adeyanju, who spoke to PUNCH Metro on Thursday, said the driver of the bus conveying the victims had hit a commercial motorcyclist in the town, and was making attempt 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.

During an interview with our correspondent, the Head of Operations, Osun Ambulance Scheme, Elizabeth Arowosafe, said the organisation received distress call around 9:50pm 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 9:53pm. 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 six people. We rushed them to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital in Osogbo. The hospital did well. In fact, 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 recognise the dead victims. They were travelling inside a bus. I learnt 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 violation of speed limit which led to loss of control.