A heavily pregnant woman was burnt to death along Ibadan-Abeokuta expressway on Tuesday after an ill-fated commercial bus lost control at the Omi Adio village in Ibadan, Oyo state.
A witness told reporters in Ibadan that eight other persons in the vehicle sustained severe injuries when they were trapped in the commercial bus coming from Apata to Omi Adio, along the one-lane expressway.
The vehicle, according to the witness, developed mechanical fault when its shaft pulled off, causing the driver to lose control and ran into a ditch after somersaulting several times.
The source said the confused passengers numbering about ten were in the process of finding their way out of the wrecked bus when it went up in flames, and trapped the occupants.
As dozens of sympathisers struggled to rescue the victims, the pregnant woman who was said to be seated in the front became unconscious and was unable to escape from the inferno which also caught other passengers in the bus.
A team of officers from the Apata, Ibadan unit of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and police officers from the traffic section of the Omi Adio, Ibadan Divisional Police Station were seen assisting sympathisers to evacuate the victims of the accident from the deep valley where the bus plunged.
As at the time of filing this report, the wreckage of the commercial bus was yet to be retrieved from the deep valley, in thick smokes as the bus is still burning.
The injured with burns have been rushed to a nearby medical facility, Alaafia hospital, Apata where they are receiving medical attention, while the deceased pregnant woman was said to have been deposited at the Adeoyo state hospital morgue at Ring Road, Ibadan.
A police source from Omi Adio Police Station, Ibadan attributed the accident to over-speeding and lack of maintenance culture among commercial vehicles’ operators.
It will be recall that last week Thursday a similar accident occurred along the same area when the front shaft of a commercial bus went off, while the vehicle was on a high speed, and ran into a deep valley on the Ibadan-Abeokuta expressway.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
