5 dead, several injured as car crashes into truck on Ife-Ibadan highway

No fewer than five people lost their lives, while others sustained various degree of injuries in an auto crash at Akinlalu, in Osun on Ife/Ibadan Expressway.

Mr Alhassan Abu, the Ife Unit Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Ile-Ife.

Abu said those that sustained serious injuries had been taken to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), Ile-Ife, while bodies of the deceased were deposited at the hospital mortuary.

A truck driver, Mr Akeem Olatunji, who narrowly escaped death, narrated to NAN at the scene how the accident happened.

Olatunji said that a Toyota Previa car coming from Ibadan end of the road ram into an oncoming articulated vehicle loaded with logs of wood from Ile-Ife axis.

Also, Chief Aderibigbe Odogiyan, the Head of Operations, FRSC, Ile-Ife, who was at the accident scene, attributed the crash to the deplorable condition of the road.

Odogiyan said that this forced motorists to ply only one side of the dual carriage ways.

“Also, the dew that covered the cloud did not allow motorists to see clearly, and instead of being patient, they tried to overtake each other recklessly.

“We have been warning drivers to stop driving against traffic on the expressway,’" he said.

Odogiyan appealed to road users to desist from speeding, dangerous overtaking, overloading, and intake of alcohol while driving, especially during the festive period.