The Federal Road Safety Corps says 16 people were burned to death and five injured in a road accident on Tuesday night.
Ondo sector commander of FRSC, Samuel Ibitoye, confirmed the incident on Wednesday.
Mr Ibitoye said the incident happened at Ajue village, between Ondo and Ore, in Odigbo LGA.
He said two vehicles, a commercial Toyota Hiace bus and a Man Diesel truck, were involved in the incident at about 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
The FRSC boss said the fully loaded bus was leaving Lagos and heading to the northern part of the country.
He said it took the FRSC about four hours to clear the road.
Mr 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 overtaking, and, possibly, one of them carried fuel inside the vehicle.
“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.
“They should not carry fuel inside their vehicles because when there is a crash, the fuel explodes and burns everybody badly,” he said.
(NAN)
