Three people died while eight others sustained varying degrees of injury in a multiple accident that occurred on Monday at Oko Olowo along the Ilorin/Bode-Saadu/Jebba Expressway in Kwara State.
The accident involved a truck carrying soybean which was heading to Lagos from the North, a petrol tanker, and another truck conveying soft drinks.
The Kwara State Fire Service said that the vehicles burst into flames after a head-on collision that occurred as a result of a wrong overtaking by the truck conveying soybean.
Kwara Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corp, Stephen Dawulung, confirmed the incident, on Monday.
He said, “Preliminary investigations revealed that a truck conveying feeds en route Lagos, while attempting to overtake another vehicle, collided with an oncoming trailer conveying brewery products while a tanker carrying petroleum products which was closely following the truck also crashed into the pre-existing vehicles leading to a multiple crash which ignited the fire that escalated due to the presence of petroleum products.
“The inferno burnt the three vehicles and a motorcycle which got caught up in the crash.
“There were a total of five people involved in the crash. Two of them who were passengers on the motorcycle sustained injuries and were taken to the General Hospital, Ilorin but the remaining three involved in the crash sadly lost their lives as they got burnt in the inferno.”