A road crash along Ilorin-Jebba highway in Kwara State, on Monday, has claimed the lives of 10 persons.
The victims of the fatal accident, which occurred at Iyemoja village near Olooru community, included five men, four women and a child.
LeadingReporters gathered that 10 other passengers that sustained varying degrees of injury from the incident were taken to Ilorin General Hospital for treatment while the corpses of those that lost their lives have been deposited at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) mortuary.
It was gathered that the accident occurred around 6.40am when the driver of a truck coming from the northern part of the country engaged in wrongful overtaking, leading to a head-on collision with a passenger bus coming from Lagos State encounter Sokoto State.
The sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Kwara State command, Stephen Dawulung, confirmed the accident and the casualty figures in a statement signed by the public education officer of the Corps, Olayinka Basambo.
The statement reads: “Today, the 8th of January, 2024, a fatal road traffic crash occured along Olooru – Okoolowo road around a village known as Iyemoja. The crash which occurred around 0640hrs involved 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 ongoing end of year special patrol operations) were immediately mobilised to the crash scene for the rescue operation.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that 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 while the truck was coming from the North enroute Lagos and had 3 passengers.
“A total of 20 people (15 male adults, 4 female adults and one 1 male Child) were involved. Ten male adults sustained varying degree of injuries while 10 people (5 male adults, 4 female adults and one 1 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.”