15 dead in Kwara road accident
By Dele Moses
Fifteen people have been reported dead in a lone road accident involving a truck in Ilorin, Kwara State.
The accident occurred at the Okoolowo area of Ilorin along Ogbomoso-Jebba highway.
The incident, which reportedly occurred in the early hours of Monday at around 2:30 am, left 17 other people with varying degrees of injury.
The deceased and the injured were said to be passengers of the truck which was driven by a driver named Nasiru Muhammed.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Kwara Sector Command, which confirmed the incident, said the vehicle involved was a DAF XF trailer with registration number GWL274 XC.
The command, in a statement, said a total of 48 male occupants were involved in the accident and that while 15 died on the spot, 17 sustained injuries ranging from fractures, dislocations and bruises, as 16 others escaped unhurt.
The statement, which was signed by the Acting Outpost Commander of the FRSC Oko-Olowo Outpost, SRC Taofeeq Sanusi, attributed the crash to driver fatigue.
It said that emergency responders arrived at the scene within five minutes of receiving distress call.
The statement disclosed that while the injured victims were evacuated to Arewa Medical Centre and Baki Hospital for treatment, the bodies of the deceased were handed over to their families and the Sarkin Hausawa of Oko-Olowo for burial.
It said that rescue operations were jointly carried out by personnel of the FRSC Oloru Unit Command and the Oko-Olowo Outpost, with efforts continuing to search for more victims believed to be trapped beneath the trailer’s load.
The statement said the Kwara Sector Commander, Kabiru Babatunde Kazeem, was at the crash scene to coordinate rescue and recovery operations.
It explained that while speaking on measures to prevent similar tragedies, the Sector Commander said the command would intensify public enlightenment campaigns through town hall meetings involving critical stakeholders.
The statement said Kazeem advised motorists to avoid mixed loading and night travelling as he stressed that fatigue remains one of the leading causes of fatal road crashes.
