Eight persons and a yet-to-be-ascertained number of cows have been reportedly killed after a white coloured commercial trailer travelling from the northern part of the country rammed into a stationary vehicle in Ilorin, Kwara state.
Sources in the state command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said that a total of 17 people were involved in the accident, adding that eight people died while four were injured.
It was gathered that the incident occurred in Oko-olowo junction, Ilorin South local government area of the state at about 6:00 pm on Wednesday.
A resident of the area, Salaudeen Abiola, said that the driver of the cow-filled trailer with registration number DAT SGM396 ZR rammed into another trailer that was parked along the road.
The eyewitness also said that a male victim, believed to be the owner of the animals, who was sitting with the driver in the front of the vehicle, died on the spot.
“The other victims include people inside the stationary trailer and other traders and marketers around the place during the incident. It was a gory sight to behold,” he said.
Another eyewitness gave the casualty figure as 12, comprising 10 Hausa people and two Yoruba people, said to be among ram sellers in the area.
He said corpses of the deceased had been deposited at the morgue of the state General Hospital, Ilorin.
Confirming the incident, the state sector commander of the FRSC, Frederick Ogidan, said, “17 people were involved in the accident, but eight died while four were injured.”