by Anike Jacobs
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. They (The Bankoles) were traveling from Ogbomoso in Oyo State to Ibadan when the accident occurred around Odo Oba River on Christmas Eve.
An eyewitness, Okunola told Punch Newspapers, that the car in which the Bankoles were travelling was coming from Iwo and heading towards Ibadan, while the truck was coming from Ibadan.The eyewitness blamed the accident on the police checkpoint, saying if the road block was not there, the accident would have been avoided.Okunola said,
“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.Okunola however added that some chickens in the boot of the car survived the tragic accident and flew out as soon as it was opened.
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