Trailer crushes 10 in Ondo market

The Punch - Nigeria

No fewer than 10 people lost their lives while many others were injured when a trailer rammed into a market on Ilesa-Akure Expressway at Owena in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State on Wednesday evening.
Confirming the incident to our correspondent on the telephone on Thursday, the Head of Operation of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr Jones Malomo, explained that the accident occurred as a result of mechanical fault in the trailer.
Malomo specifically said the tanker had a brake failure, swerved off the road and rammed into the market, killing many of the people traders along the road.
An eyewitness explained that the driver of the the petrol tanker lost control of the vehicle a few meters away from the market, causing pandemonium as all the traders in the markets scampered from their stalls while the unlucky ones were crushed by the trailer.
The eyewitness said the victims of the accident traders and artisans  who were trading on the expressway .
It was gathered that the remains of the deceased had been deposited at the Ondo State Specialist Hospital, Akure, while the injured were receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.
Malomo called on the state government to relocate traders from the road, saying if the victims of the accident had not been by the roadside, the casualties would not have been high.
He said, “The FRSC has been appealing to the local and state governments to move markets away from the road; it is very risky. This is a disaster, not a crash.”