By Joke Mosi, Reporting
IT was a gory sight on Tuesday evening when a truck laden with a container coming from Ologuneru rammed a plank-laden lumbering truck at Save & Serve Bridge along Eleyele-Ologuneru road in Ibadan, Oyo State.
A victim being revived
Stonix News, which was at the scene less that 10 minutes and had earlier broken the news after the incident occurred, observed that besides the trucks, the accident involved other private vehicles and commercial motorcycles and cabs.
The automobiles were all trapped a few metres away from the bridge while descending the slope from Ologuneru.
Mangled trucks
Stonix News gathered, first hand, that a trailer and a car had, earlier on Monday morning, had an accident on the spot and the truck was left to block almost half of the one carriage road, making the space remaining narrow for vehicles coming from the two opposite directions to manouvre through.
It was gathered that the container-laden truck, which was headed from Ologuneru axis, on Tuesday evening, had failed breaks and on getting to the narrow path left for vehicles to pass, it rammed the heavily laden lumbering truck coming from Eleyele axis.
A sympathiser simply suggested that the rampaging container-laden truck used the wood-carrying one as a wedge to avoid plunging into the river.
The very loud impact, according to eyewitnesses, of the collision, attracted residents of the area and other road users who had to rush to scene to save lives.
As of 7:38 p.m, three lifeless bodies were scene on the spot, with many others with fractured limbs and back.
Victim with mangled legs
Several others were trapped in the vehicles and some motorcycle riders, who all also rammed the crashed trucks owing to their speed, too, could be sighted unconscious, dead or writhing in pains.
But for the weight of the lumbering truck which was laden with fresh planks, the truck carrying container would have plunged into the canal.
Among the injured was a man whose two legs were fractured and an old woman whose backbone appeared fatally injured.
Some victims
The atmosphere as of 7:30p.m was tensed as mournful ululation rented the air with a few rescuers searching for victims’ phone to contact their nearest relatives.
A patrol van of officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) was seen conveying some dead and fatally injured to a hospital.
The accident scene
A rescuer was heard saying that if the FRSC men had acted swiftly to evacuate the stationary truck that caused the accident from the road, the accident earlier, perhaps, would have been avoided.
As of 8:00p.m, there was a heavy vehicular obstruction, as several commuters and passersby have to engage in helping to revive some of the unconscious victims albeit unprofessionally.
The scene
One of the victims sighted by Stonix News has had his two legs mangled with his shoes still on. It was a pathetically gory sight to behold.
Officials of state actors in security and road management were seen racing to the scene as the number of casualty could be ascertained due to the rowdiness as of the time out correspondent left the scene.
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