Two LAUTECH students burnt to death in road crash

Two final year students of Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, returning with others from a picnic were burnt to death in an accident late Wednesday.

The students were traveling in a bus along Osogbo/Ifon/Oyo boundary road.

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

A resident of Okinni, one Adeyanju, who spoke to our correspondent on Thursday, said the driver of the bus, hit a commercial motorcyclist in the town, and was trying to escape the rage of some angry residents chasing him.

“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 two people were burnt to death. Operatives of O’Ambulance Scheme came around to rescue some of the victims,” Adeyanju said.

During an interview with our correspondent, the Head of Operations, of the agency, Elizabeth Arowosafe, said the organisation received the distress call around 9.50pm on Wednesday.

She said, “We responded around 9.53pm. I was told the driver had hit someone in Okinni and was trying to escape when the incident happened.

“The driver along with a lady and a male student were burnt to death. We were able to rescue five people. We rushed them to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital in Osogbo. The hospital did well. In fact, there was no 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 are 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 violation of speed limit.