Three people were crushed to death in the early morning of Thursday on the Oyun Bridge, along the Kwara State Polytechnic Road, Ilorin when the motorcycle they were riding ran into a truck laden with cement.
The three victims were believed to have been motorcycle mechanics coming from their workshop around Testing Area, on the outskirt of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
The accident, which led to a massive road snarl, was caused by an attempt by the deceased motorcycle rider to overtake a car at a bend near the bridge, not knowing that the truck was approaching.
Two of the victims died immediately, according to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Kwara State Sector Commander, Mrs. Mary Wakawa.
She blamed the accident on careless attitude to road use and urged road users to exercise more restraint.
Three victims were identified simply as Sakariyah, Wasiu, and Ganiu.
Aggrieved residents of the area later set the truck ablaze, a development that further worsened the traffic situation and forced many staff and students of the Polytechnic as well as workers with the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) to turn back home.
Affected were the Polytechnic students who are in the middle of their semester examination.
Authorities of the institution later agreed to postpone papers meant to have been written yesterday till August 5, 2013 in solidarity with the students.
Public Relations Officer of the institution, Abdulkardri Yunus, confirmed the development, but noted that other examinations will be written as they appear on the central time-table, noting that students of IOT are not affected.
An eyewitness said the victims were buried at about 1pm according to Islamic rites.
He described the victims as an elderly man who rode the motorcycle, a youth and a teenager.
“They were given the last prayers together but were buried separately, amidst wailing,” he said.
It took a combined team of men of the fire service, civil defence and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) several hours to calm the situation and restore order to the traffic situation.
Wakawa said: “We were called in for a rescue operation. Our men were on site and did the rescue quite well. Three people were on one okada, they ran into a moving trailer. Two died on the spot and one died on the way to the hospital. They are all males from the same area. They were ran over by the trailer and they all died. Their bodies were deposited at UITH. People later attacked the trailer and was totally burnt but the driver escaped. The trailer was moving when the okada ran into it and they had head-on collision.
“Okada people are not careful in riding. Our attitude (road users) is the cause of this problem. A minute can make the difference. The rush does not make one reach one’s destination. What is happening is recklessness. The okada people are not careful. There is no doubt about it and they do not want to obey road traffic jam”.
