By Dele Onatade and Olafioye Olakunle
a fully loaded commercial bus plunged into Iju River along Owode-Idiroko Road in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State yesterday.
The accident, which involved a white 18-seater passenger bus happened about a kilometre from Covenant University, Otta.
The Mazda bus with registration number Epe 197 XG was said to have taken off from Sango and was heading towards Atan-Idiroko when the driver lost control and the bus plunged into the river about 10.45 am.
Sixteen of the occupants of the bus died while four others suffered injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital.
Local divers helped to coordinate early rescue operations before the arrival of rescue agencies including the police and officials of Federal Road Safety Corps.
An eyewitness told Sunday Sun that the local divers helped to recover bodies of five victims, while a woman and her daughter were rescued.
Another victim who simply identified himself as Taofeek was also seen at the scene with bruises on his face.
Confirming the crash to Sunday Sun in a telephone interview, the Head of Operations, Ota Unit of FRSC, Mr. Tunde Odunmbaku blamed the accident on excessive speeding.
According to him, “There were 20 passengers onboard. Eight of them were male while the remaining 12 were female. The accident happened about 10.45 am due to excessive speeding on the part of the driver.”
Bodies of the deceased have been deposited in the morgue.