Nursing Mother, 5 Children, Others Burnt Beyond Recognition As Gas Cylinder Explodes In Osun Accident

About 16 passengers were burnt to death in Osun State after a commercial bus was involved in an accident on Saturday in Ode-Omu, Ayedaade Local Government Area, Osun State.

The incident which occurred on Friday evening around 5:30 PM caused panic in the community.

According to Monsurat, an eyewitness, she disclosed that the commercial bus conveying passengers to Ibadan was involved in an accident with a private Lexus car.

She said, “A private car collided with the commercial bus coming from Osogbo and heading to Ibadan yesterday. The bus driver had lost control of the wheel and the vehicle went off the road. The gas cylinder kept inside the vehicle by one of the passengers exploded and caused fire. All the passengers in the vehicle were burnt to death except four of them who sustained various degrees of injuries.”

The Former chairman for National Union Road Transport Worker(NURTW), Ode-Omu branch, disclosed that 16 burnt passengers were evacuated from the commercial bus including a nursing mother and five children.

He explained that “I arrived at the scene some minutes to 6 PM while the fire was still burning but we were helpless. Four people escaped death including a corps member and a security operative. Those that were inside the bus according to one of the people that escaped death said they boarded the bus at Aregbe motor park. The victim said a nursing mother was in the vehicles including five children. When we were evacuating the passengers that were burnt to death in the presence of police and road safety, we counted 16 of them.”

Agnes Ogungbemi, the spokesperson of the Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), Osun Command, said the cylinder explosion caused the fire after the accident.

“No details for now, because we have not been able to ascertain the dead but the injured have been taken to Ise Oluwa Medical Center Odeomu. One of the vehicles carried gas, it exploded and caused the fire outbreak.”