Pupils escape death in Akure autocrash

By Abimbola Akindunbi
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Some pupils of a private school (name withheld) in Akure, the Ondo State capital, have escaped death by a whisker,  as the school bus conveying them to school rammed into the fence of the Central Bank of Nigeria in Alagbaka, Akure.

Motherluck seemed to have smiled on the  children who were  rescued unhurt, after the bus jumped over a ditch close to the bank’s transformer.

However,  the driver of the bus was unlucky as he  sustained injury as a result of the front windscreen which was smashed on the front seat.

The middle-aged driver of the Toyota Hiace bus, branded with the name of the school,  while on a morning routine was said to be negotiating his way out of the road leading to the Governor’s Office after picking one of the pupils near the Anti-Kidnapping office.

It was learnt that in an attempt to dodge an oncoming vehicle from the left,  the driver reportedly lost control and swerved,  hitting  the fence of the Apex Bank.

By the time our correspondent visited the scene, motorists and Okada riders had besieged the place to rescue  the children and the bus assistant, perhaps to their school, while the driver  was rushed to an undisclosed hospital by some good Samaritans.

 Some of the residents of the area, who spoke with our correspondent under the condition of anonymity, thanked God for saving the situation.

But they, however, complained that they had noticed the driver was always on high speed while driving the bus.

A resident said he just picked a child from a house near the Anti-Kidnapoing unit and was going to pick the remaining pupils  when the incident occurred.

While some parents around the scene called on school authorities to caution their drivers over their dangerous driving within the metropolis, others appealed to motorists to always be patient with drivers of school buses on the road because of the children.