No fewer than 10 people were early hours of yesterday declared dead by the operatives of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Kwara State.
Our correspondent gathered that 10 others according to investigation sustained injuries.
The road mishap occured at Iyemoja village along Olooru-Okoolowo express road in Moro local government.
The fatal crash, which occured around 06:40am involved two vehicles, a Volvo truck and a Toyota Hiace bus.
According to a source, 20 people including 15 adult males, four females and one male infant were involved.
Eyewitnesses told our reporter that the driver of the articulated Volvo truck made wrong overtaking leading to the head-on collision with the 18-seater bus.
The FRSC however confirmed that the bus was coming from Lagos enroute Sokoto and was conveying 17 passengers and goods, while the truck was said to be coming from the North enroute Lagos and had three passengers.
FRSC said: “Today, January 8, 2024, a fatal road traffic crash occured along Olooru-Okoolowo Road around a village known as Iyemoja.
“The crash which occured around 0640hrs involved two vehicles, a Volvo truck and a Toyota Hiace bus.
“On receipt of the report of the crash our Rescue operatives at Olooru Unit and at the Help and rescue Camp (which was established at Bode Saadu to fortify rescue operations during the on going end of year special patrol operations) were immediately mobilized to the crash scene for the rescue operation.
“Preliminary investigations revealed the following; The crash occured due to wrongful overtaking by the driver of the Volvo Truck which led to the head on collision with the Bus.
“The bus was coming from Lagos enroute Sokoto and was conveying 17 passengers and goods.
“The truck was coming from the North enroute Lagos and had three passengers.
“Full investigation is still ongoing to further ascertain some details of the crash.
“A total of 20 people (15 male adults, four female adults and one male child) were involved, 10 male adults sustained varying degrees of injury while 10 people (5 male adults, four female adults and one male child) sadly lost their lives.
“The injured victims have since been taken to General Hospital, Ilorin while corpses of the dead were taken to UITH mortuary, Ilorin.
“We deeply sympathize with families of the dead and wish the injured victims quick recovery. The Corps wishes to admonish drivers to avoid wrongful overtaking and excessive speeding as these two are major causes of fatal crashes.
“The Kwara Sector Command will continue to play our part in ensuring safety of all Road Users in Kwara State and we hope all drivers will remember to drive to stay alive.”
