Fresh facts have emerged over the
trailer accident that occurred on Saturday night in Iworoko, Irepodun/Ifelodun
Local Government Area of Ekiti State, killing several persons.
The truck, conveying bags of rice
belonging to a politician, suddenly lost control at about 8:45 pm on Saturday
night and rammed into a market at the centre of the town.
In the ensuing tragedy, it
crushed three shops and a commercial small bus, which had some passengers. One
of the shops, a barbing saloon, has residents and students charging their cell
phones inside it. They were all trapped in the accident.
Among the victims were students
of the Ekiti State University, a corps member, residents, traders in the area
and a mother and child.
Our reporter observed that the on
going strike action by the Academic Union of Universities, (ASUU), was said to
have prevented many more students of the EKSU from falling victim of the tragic
incident as they claimed that the market where the truck ran into used to be
crowded with many students when the school is open.
When our correspondent visited
the scene of the accident on Sunday morning, a huge crowd of sympathisers had
besieged the scene with some wailing.
The trailer had crushed a small
commercial vehicle called ‘Akoto’. Bags of rice, some of which had posters of a
senatorial candidate of the Ondo State All Progressives Congress (APC), Tayo
Alasoadura, littered the scene.
The angry mob chased away a
towing truck of the state’s transport office, saying that it had come too late
to rescue the victims.
They stoned the vehicle, forcing
the driver to drive off. They also made attempt to chase away the advance
security team of the deputy governor but were intimidated by a presence of
heavily armed security operatives who later came to bring the deputy governor
to the scene.
Speaking with the chiefs and
angry youths of the community, the Deputy Governor, Bisi Egbeyemi, who
represented the Governor of the state, Kayode Fayemi said: “The state governor
condoles with families of those who have lost dear ones. We pray for their
souls to rest on peace. Government will also ensure that those who were wounded
have their hospital bills paid for. We will also take care of other things.
“However, we appeal to our youths
to calm down and not cause trouble. No one wishes for this kind of tragedy to
happen. And no amount of anger and violence will bring back those dead. So let
us be calm, ” he said.
Egbeyemi, who also visited the
Ekiti State University Teaching hospital along Adebayo area of the state
capital, where the bodies of the dead and others wounded were taken to, told
the doctors to begin urgent treatment of the wounded, assuring them that the
bills would be paid by the state government.
The hospital management told
newsmen that 12 bodies of those who lost their lives in the accident, including
students of EKSU have been deposits at the state morgue while four wounded
victims of the accident are receiving treatment in the hospital.
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what a pity! May souls of the departed rest in peace. Amen
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