The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ondo State Command, says 16 people were burned to death and five injured in a road accident on Tuesday night.
Ondo State Sector Commander of FRSC, Samuel Ibitoye, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday.
Ibitoye said that the incident happened at Ajue village, between Ondo and Ore, in Odigbo Local Government Area of the state.
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According to him, two vehicles, a commercial Toyota Hiace bus and a Man Diesel truck, were involved in the incident that happened at about 8 pm on Tuesday.
The FRSC boss said that the fully loaded bus was coming from Lagos and heading to the northern part of the country.
He said that it took the FRSC about four hours to clear the road.
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Ibitoye attributed the causes of the accident to excessive speeding and wrongful overtaking, adding that one of the vehicles might have been carrying fuel.
“Three male adults were seriously injured, two had minor injuries and 16 people were burnt beyond recognition.
“Though investigation on the cause of the accident has not been concluded, preliminary investigation indicated high speeding, wrongful overtake and, possibly, one of them carried fuel inside the vehicle.
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“Meanwhile, the injured ones have been taken to Ore General Hospital for treatment, while the corpses have been released to the Hausa Community in the area for possible burial this morning,’’ he said.
He appealed to motorists to shun speeding and observe all rules and regulations of the road.
“And they should not carry fuel inside their vehicles, because when there is a crash the fuel explodes and burn everybody badly ,” he said. (NAN)