14 Die, 14 Injured In Fuel Tanker

Tragedy struck, yesterday, as 14 passengers were burnt beyond recognition while 14 others sustained various degrees of injuries on Ogbomoso-Jebba Road, Ilorin due to an auto crash.

It was gathered that the accident involved a fully loaded tanker and a lorry

It was gathered that the truck loaded with cattle and passengers was said to be coming from one of the states in the North while the tanker was believed to be heading towards the opposite direction when they collided.

Speaking, Kwara State Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Mary Wakawa, while confirming the sad incident, said it happened in the early hours of the day.

According to her, “one of the heavy duty vehicles veered off its lane and collided with the other. This was around 5am. Both vehicles went up in flame. 13 persons died on the spot while one died in the hospital. We rushed 14 injured passengers with severe burns to University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, UITH. Already, with the support of the Kwara State Transport Management Agency, KWTMA, we had evacuated the wreck.”

Wakawa, while cautioning road users against excessive speed, night driving and driving exhaustion, said the 13 charred bodies of the victims had been given mass burial.

She attributed the accident to exhaustion adding, “our drivers should stop long driving at night. They need rest to avoid human errors on the roads.”

While speaking on this year edition of Road Traffic Crash Victims Remembrance Week in Ilorin, said the ratio of road traffic accident in Nigeria still remained high, 160 accidents to 10,000