The Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) on Saturday said it has
recovered 12 of the 21 persons travelling in a bus which plunged into a River at J4 area of the Sagamu-Ore expressway in Ogbere, Ijebu-East local government area of Ogun State.
The bodies were recovered 24 hours after the incident when officials
of the FRSC, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ogun State
Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Nigeria Police Force
and Red Cross society launched a search and rescue operation.
The driver, who allegedly slept off, lost control of the coaster bus
which swayed off the road and plunged into the River on Friday and got
swept away before it was located 24 hours after.
About 11 bodies of the women and that of the driver, a male, were
recovered inside the Federal Urban Mass Scheme bus with Abuja
registration number BWR 428 XA.
The victims were reportedly travelling for a burial at Uronigbe in Oriohwon local government area of Edo State.Issa Seidu , the Ijebu-Ode Unit Commander of FRSC said three people
were rescued on Friday night and were rushed to a private hospital in
Ore.
He said he got the information from one of the survivors that the passengers that boarded the bus were 21, including the driver.
The FRSC boss attributed the accident to over speeding. “It is a
clear case of over speeding on the part of the driver of the bus. If you
look at the distance from which the bus ran into the river, which is
about a kilometer away, it shows that the driver was on a terrible
speed.
“It clearly shows that the driver was on a suicide mission. Although
we don’t know the actually number of people in the bus, one of the
survivors said they were 21 in number. “In all we were able to recovered
12 bodies and rescued three”.
Ibrahim Farinoye, information officer NEMA South – west Zone 2 said
the agency would commence search and rescue operation of the remaining
bodies in the river.
Families of the victims who were at the scene of the rescue operation could not hold the pain and tears.
