No fewer than 15 passengers lost their lives, while 17 others sustained varying degrees of injuries in a lone truck accident along the Ilorin–Jebba Expressway in Kwara State in the early hours of Monday.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said 16 other passengers were rescued unhurt from the crash, which occurred at the Oko-Olowo axis of the highway at about 2:32 a.m.
The accident involved a DAF truck with registration number GWL 274 XC, which was reportedly conveying 48 passengers alongside goods when it crashed.
Confirming the incident, the Head of the Oko-Olowo Outpost of the FRSC in Kwara State, Taofeeq Sanusi, attributed the crash to fatigue on the part of the driver, identified as Nasiru Muhammed.
According to him, preliminary findings indicated that driver fatigue led to the fatal accident.
Sanusi said the bodies of the 15 victims had been released to their families and the Sarkin Hausawa of Oko-Olowo for burial, while the 17 injured passengers were taken to nearby hospitals for medical treatment.
He added that the rescue operation was jointly carried out by personnel of FRSC RS8.15 Oloru Unit and RS8.1 Kwara Command’s Oko-Olowo Outpost.
The FRSC official disclosed that rescue workers were still searching for additional victims who might have been trapped beneath the truck’s load.
He further said the Kwara State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Kabiru Kazeem, visited the accident scene to coordinate the rescue and recovery operation.
