Tragic: Two Pupils, Three Others Burn to Death as Fuel Tankers Collide

It was a tragic experience on Ibadan-Ife expressway early on Friday, when two articulated fuel tankers, while attempting to overtake each other on a hill along Asejire area, crashed and spilled petrol which precipitated an inferno, burning to death five persons while six others sustained varying degrees of injuries.

Witnesses at the scene said that the incident occurred around 7:30a.m. One of those burnt to death was a pupil of a public school who was said to be waiting  for a bus beside the road when the inferno consumed him.

Several buildings, shops, mechanic workshops and market stalls were completely razed by the fire.

The mangled body of the burnt public school pupil, whose identity could not be ascertained, was spotted, just as men of the fire brigade service, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and policemen were busy managing the situation.

The development caused traffic gridlock along the expressway as the section from the Ibadan end was closed to traffic while the evacuation of the debris was ongoing.

A victim, identified as Tajudeen Bakare, whose residence was completely burnt said that,

“This area is called Olukeye Asejire. The trailers, while attempting to overtake each other on the hill, hit themselves and one of them, carrying petrol, spilled its contents into gutters and a stream. We heard a loud bang and a fire erupted.”

Bakare, who lost his BMW car to the fire, said,

“I have nothing left. My property and that of my tenants have been reduced to ashes. I am finished.”

An official of the Primary Health Care (PHC) in Egbeda Local Government Area, Mr Felix Akinyemi, said that,

“Four burnt corpses have been evacuated from the scene. We have also taken seven other victims who sustained varying degrees of burns to J. Ralpha and Ifeoluwa hospitals, in Ikoyi, Osun State.”