Tragedy struck on Tuesday morning along Iwo Road-Ojoo axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, when a trailer loaded with roofing sheets collided with an 18-seater Hummer bus, a Micra taxi cab and a Honda CR-V car, killing 16 persons while 17 others were left with varying degrees of injury.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Oyo Sector Command, Mayowa Odewo, the sad event was caused by brake failure leading to the trailer ramming into the three other oncoming vehicles on the same lane of tue dual-carriage way.

In his account, “The accident occured after a trailer carrying iron materials lost control and ran into multiple vehicles including a bus coming from the North with 18 passengers who are majorly children. The trailer also ran into a Micra, and Honda CR-V car 2002/2003 model.

“About 16 people died instantly, 17 people were injured, while two people in the Honda CR-V survived the accident and we’re taken to close by hospital. Some of the injured people were Hausas and they refused to be hospitalised”, the spokesperson said.

Odewo added that the FRSC, Oyo Sector Commander, Corps Commander Rosemary Alo, himself and teams of men from other component of the Command had visited the scene of the accident to ensure free flow of vehicular movement and avoid repeat of such accident.

His words: “Most of the deceased were Hausas and had been taken to Shasha or Ojoo. The Seriki of the Hausa has been communicated and we have released the bodies of the deceased to them. The sector Commander and our team also embarked on hospital follow-up to check the injured ones and assured them of their survival.

“The injured victims were taken to Amudalat hospital at Agbowo area Ibadan for medical attention while the corpses were taken to cemetery along Akinyele area in Ibadan. The accidented vehicles have been taken to Irepodun Police Station along Agbowo/Ojoo by the Police”, he said.

According to New Telegraph’s investigation, the multiple accident which happened at Agbowo/Ajao area on the Expressway around 9.43 a.m., caused a huge traffic jam as sympathizers were struggling to rescue some of the victims trapped in the vehicles.

Narrating how the accident happened, Mr. Emmanuel Omotoso and Mrs Funmi Adejumo told New Telegraph that the ongoing construction of the Lagos -Ibadan Expressway that has been stopped, caused the accident as the other lane of the Expressway was blocked.

It took the efforts of private heavy towing vehicles before the trapped vehicles could be removed while some victims were rescued.

Meanwhile, many motorists at the scene appealed to the Oyo State government to purchase heavy towing vehicles and ambulance buses for rescue operation in case of emergency situation like it happened.

To some of them, the construction work leading to blocking of a lane of the road should be quicked and completed, lest the type of ugly incident re-occur.