Two pupils and three others were yesterday burnt to death at Asejire area on Ibadan-Ife expressway when two fuel tankers collided and caught fire instantly.
Six other persons sustained varied degrees of injuries and are now receiving treatment in the hospital.
One of the dead pupils was said to be waiting for a bus along the road when the raging inferno consumed him.
Several buildings, shops, mechanic workshops and market stalls were completely razed by the fire, which emanated from the spilled content of the fallen trailer.
The accident, according to an eye witnesses caused traffic gridlock along the expressway as the section from Ibadan end was closed to traffic while the evacuation of the burnt vehicles was ongoing.
The unit commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Egbeda, Commander Abiodun Akinlade who confirmed the accident explained that “around 7.30am, we received a call that there was an accident and on coming down we discovered one of the articulated vehicles had skidded off the road and burst into flames”.
“It is like they were doing competition on the highway, trying to overtake each other. I also understand that a school bus was also trying to pick a child and the fallen tanker affected the bus and we lost two people there. We also lost two people from the articulated vehicle,” he said.
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