Two LAUTECH students, driver burnt to death in road crash

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

Two people travelling in a bus conveying some final year students of Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, returning from a picnic, along the Osogbo/Ifon/Oyo Boundary road, were burnt to death in an accident late Wednesday evening.

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

A resident of Okinni, identified as Adeyanju, said the driver of the bus conveying the victims, had hit a commercial motorcyclist in the town and was trying to escape the rage of some angry residents chasing after him.

“A 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 the O’Ambulance Scheme came around to rescue some of the victims,” Adeyanju said.

The Head of Operations, Elizabeth Arowosafe, said the organisation received the distress call around 9:50 pm on Wednesday that a bus conveying some final year students of LAUTECH, returning from a picnic was involved in the accident.

She said, “We responded around 9:53 pm. 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 5 people. We rushed them to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital in Osogbo. The hospital did well. There was not enough space to accommodate the injured people and we had to leave one of our stretchers for 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 victims, but she didn’t have the strength to name the others.”

Also commenting on the crash, the Public Relations Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Agnes Ogungbemi, said the accident was caused by a violation of the speed limit which led to the loss of control.