10th June, 2010
At least 14 students of the Grace Group of Schools, Iperu Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria, were crushed to death yesterday by a trailer with registration number XP 266 LLD at the Toto Industry junction, Olorunsogo, along Ode Remo road area of the town.
According to an eyewitness, the driver of the trailer had attempted to overtake the school bus when the accident happened.
“My car was behind the trailer; I had to slow down to allow some distance between the truck when I saw the way the driver was driving. In his effort to overtake the school bus, the hanger of the trailer caught the school bus, dragging it along and in a few seconds, blood was all over the place. All the students who sat close to the bus side screen died instantly.
“Motorists parked their vehicles to help the victims but the trailer driver sped off. When we got to the motor park, we saw only the trailer. The driver had escaped,†he added.
P.M.NEWS gathered that the driver of the school bus ran to the Police Motor Traffic Division Office at Iperu. The bus, marked DD 130 KJA is presently parked at the office with blood all over it.
Contacted, the Divisional Traffic Officer at Iperu directed P.M.NEWS to the Divisional Police Officer at Iperu.
Meanwhile, scores of injured students have been admitted in private hospitals in Sagamu, Iperu and also the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, ( OOUTH), Sagamu for treatment.
A source at OOUTH said some students’ condition is so critical that they have been transferred to the University College Hospital, (UCH) Ibadan, Oyo State.
The proprietress of the school, P.M.NEWS learnt, is presently receiving treatment at Bankole Hospital, Ilishan Remo, because of the shock she suffered as a result of the incident.
When our correspondent visited the school this morning, it was under lock and key.
—Biodun Onafuye/Ijebu-Ode