A couple identified as Mr. and Mrs. Olumide Bankole and their two children Sharon and Shama, were reportedly crushed to death by a truck conveying bags of rice along the Iwo-Ibadan Road in Osun State.
An eyewitness from a commercial bus, Leke Okunola, who witnessed the accident, on Sunday, January 4, 2015 disclosed that the truck had lost control while trying to avoid the queue of other vehicles lined up on the road at the police checkpoint.
According to Punch, the eyewitness said rescuers at the scene learnt that the family was traveling from Ogbomoso in Oyo State to Ibadan when the accident occurred around Odo Oba River on Christmas Eve.
He said the car in which the deceased family members were travelling was going towards Ibadan from Iwo while the truck was coming from Ibadan.
Okunola said, “The car in which the victims were travelling was coming from the opposite direction and after the police had checked him, he moved, but a trailer which was loaded with bags of rice lost control and fell on the car.
“The truck was on top speed. The driver saw a long queue of vehicles caused by the police checkpoint. The driver did not want to ram into the vehicles on the queue and veered off the lane. That was when the car was cleared to go.
“The driver of the car saw the truck and drove into the bush. The truck driver, however, lost control and fell on the car.
“The driver of the car, his wife and two children, including a baby, were all dead by the time they were rescued from under the truck.”
He added that the victims were trapped under the truck for close to five hours before their mangled bodies were removed by rescuers.
A lady, who was said to have been given a free ride by the family, was said to have survived, but her hand was reportedly chopped while being pulled out from the wreckage.
Okunola added that some chickens inside the boot of the car survived the tragic accident and flew out when rescuers opened the boot.
The Chairman of the Non Academic Staff Union at the Osun State University, Mr. Isaiah Fayemi, who is an in-law to the Bankoles, said the family had been thrown into deep mourning since the accident happened.
He called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, and the Commissioner of Police in Osun State, Mr. Abubakar Marafa, to investigate the cause of the accident and punish whoever was found culpable.
Fayemi said, “I learnt that the accident was caused by a police checkpoint. We will involve our lawyer in the case. We want the police to investigate the cause of the accident. I was told that two policemen had been arrested for the tragedy.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in Osun State, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, said investigation into the matter was ongoing.
Also, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps in Osun State, Mr. Mohammed Hussein, said the accident did not happen within his area of jurisdiction.
He said that the area where the accident happened fell under the jurisdiction of the Mokola Unit in Oyo State
