The Punch reports that four members of the same family– a father, mother and their two kids– have been crushed to death by a truck laden with bags of rice. The accident was said to have happened along the Iwo-Ibadan Road in Osun State. A passenger in a commercial bus, who witnessed the accident, in Osogbo said on Sunday that Mr. and Mrs. Olumide Bankole; their children, Sharon and Shama, were crushed to death by the truck which lost control in an attempt to avoid running into a queue of vehicles on the road due to a police He explained:
“The car in which the victims were travelling was coming from the opposite direction and after the police had checked him, he moved, but a trailer which was loaded with bags of rice lost control and fell on the car.
“The truck was on top speed. The driver saw a long queue of vehicles caused by the police checkpoint. The driver did not want to ram into the vehicles on the queue and veered off the lane. That was when the car was cleared to go.
“The driver of the car saw the truck and drove into the bush. The truck driver, however, lost control and fell on the car. The driver of the car, his wife and two children, including a baby, were all dead by the time they were rescued from under the truck.”
He added that the victims were trapped under the truck for close to five hours before their mangled bodies were removed by rescuers. A lady, who was said to have been given a free ride by the family, was said to have survived, but her hand was reportedly chopped while being pulled out from the wreckage.
The Chairman of the Non Academic Staff Union at the Osun State University, Mr. Isaiah Fayemi, who is an in-law to the Bankoles, said the family had been thrown into deep mourning since the accident happened.
“I learnt that the accident was caused by a police checkpoint. We will involve our lawyer in the case. We want the police to investigate the cause of the accident. I was told that two policemen had been arrested for the tragedy.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in Osun State, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, said investigation into the matter was ongoing.
So sad! May their souls rest in peace!