Four persons were reportedly “burnt beyond recognition” on Sunday when a commercial bus crashed at Atoyo, inbound Ogbere, along Ijebu Ode – Benin expressway.
Our correspondent gathered that the accident occurred around 11:50am when a driver of the 14-passenger bus drove on black oil spilled on the road at a diversion point.
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It was further gathered that a black oil – laden tanker had spilled its content on the road due to leakage of its tank.
The Public Relations Officer of the state – owned Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi, confirmed the incident to newsmen in Abeokuta on Sunday.
The Cause
Akinbiyi said the accident was caused by brake failure and disobedience on the part of the driver of the bus.
He said, “A tanker loaded with black oil inbound Benin on the Ijebu Ode-Benin expressway, spilled its content on the road due to leakage from the tanker and had to stop when the attention of the driver was called by other drivers driving in the same direction.
“However, when TRACE, FRSC and the police got to the scene, they had to divert and re-route traffic, so that inbound traffic to Benin can join the outbound traffic section .
“Because it is not safe for vehicles going inbound to drive on the black oil which has already covered the length and breath of the inbound section.
“The driver of the commercial bus disobeyed the warning at the diversion point and choose to drive on the black oil.
“In the process, the driver experienced a break failure, lost control and ran into the bush hitting a tree in the process before the vehicle was engulfed in fire, burning four passengers to death out of the 14 on board the bus.”
He said the whereabout of the remaining 10 passengers could not be ascertained as at the time of filling this report.
Akinbiyi explained that the Ogbere Divisional Police command had taken over the case, saying the driver of the tanker had been taken into the custody by the police.
