By Adedotun Aderoboye

No fewer than eight persons were feared dead on Tuesday in a road accident which occurred along Ondo-Ore Expressway around Liyelu, Bagbe in Ondo West Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Several others were also said to have sustained various degrees injuries in the unfortunate incident.

The Hope Metro gathered that the accident involved an 18-passenger Toyota Hiace bus with number plate ARC 616 XA and an unregistered truck.

An eyewitness said the bus was trying to overtake another vehicle, when it  collided with the truck at the other lane of the road.

The incident was said to have caused traffic logjam for several hours and it took the intervention of the men of the Ondo Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps and the policemen before the road was cleared.

An official of the FRSC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the accident happened as a result of speed limit violation and dangerous overtaking on the part of the vehicles involved.

He said those who lost their lives had been taken to the mortuary of a hospital while the injured passengers were also taken to the hospital for treatment.

Contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs Funmilayo Odunlami, confirmed the incident and said the survivors had been taken to the hospital.

In a similar incident, eight passengers were injured in an accident which occurred on Monday morning involving two vehicles infront of Independence Grammar School, Ondo town.

The crash which occurred around 6am  caused traffic gridlock along the road for about two hours as motorists who were heading to various destinations had to squeeze their vehicles through a side of the road as the other side was occupied by the badly damaged and blood stained vehicles.

Security agents, road safety officials and concerned individuals who helped in directing traffic at the scene until the vehicles were eventually towed from the ever busy road.

According to an eyewitness who simply identified himself as Ebenezer, the two vehicles coming from different directions had an head-on collision in the wee hours  while trying to negotiate a bend along the road saying they were on top speed and could not avoid the collision.

His words, “When we heard the sound, we came here immediately to help and we met the victims with various degrees injuries. Some were really serious but none of them died here. They have all been taken away to trauma for treatment.”

An official of Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), at the scene of the accident said, “the accident occurred about two hours ago and it involved these two vehicles. The vehicles had eight occupants. None of them died, even though some of them were in bad state. The passengers were six in number, four women and two men. The victims have all been taken to Trauma centre for treatment.”

As at the time of filing this report, The Hope Metro learnt that victims of the accident have  been moved to the Trauma Unit of the Ondo State University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital in Ondo town  where they are receiving treatment.