Day of Tragedies: 13 pupils die as school collapses in Ibadan; 12 passengers burn to death in Zamfara; Man hangs self in Ondo - Fire razes Sokoto market

From Tope Abiola, Yinka Oladoyinbo, Muhammed Sabiu and Qudirat Hakeem-Apanpa - 26.03.2008

IT was wailing and mourning at the Olomi area of Oluyole Local Government Area of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Tuesday when about 13 pupils died and several others were injured following the collapse of a nursery and primary school.

The school, Living Water Nursery and Primary School, located on Ayedaade Street, an interior part of the area, sources told the Nigerian Tribune, collapsed around 12.30 p.m. after the pupils had resumed from their 30-minute break.

The proprietor of the school and his staff were also said to have sustained varying degrees of injuries during the incident.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the owner of the school sustained a spinal cord injury and has since been hospitalised at the State Hospital, Adeoyo, Ibadan, while some teachers and pupil were admitted at different hospitals within the Olomi area for treatment.

When the Nigerian Tribune visited the school, two corpses of pupils were seen, while an eyewitness disclosed that some parents had gone with the remains of their children.

Apart from the parents of the pupils, some sympathisers were seen wailing at the premises of the school and in the residences of the deceased pupils.

Nigerian Tribune also visited private hospitals and health centres in the area where some of the injured pupils and their teachers were receiving treatment.

While speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in a traditional orthopaedic hospital, one of the teachers who suffered a broken leg stated that “it was a tragic and unexpected incident which I would never forget in my life.”

Apart from the private clinics and health centres in the area, Nigerian Tribune learnt that some of the injured were admitted at the Saint Mary’s Catholic Hospital, Oluyoro, Academy, Ibadan.

Four siblings, the Nigerian Tribune gathered, were on danger list in a private hospital in the area, while the only child of a 50-year-old woman was reported to have died in the incident.

At the time of filing this report, about 50 pupils were said to be receiving treatment in various medical homes in the Olomi area.

Reacting to the incident, the state governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Abraham Ojo, sympathised with the parents of the children, describing it as unfortunate.

In Zamfara State, 12 passengers were burnt to death when their vehicles collided on Bungudu/Sokoto road in Bungudu Local Government Area of the state.

An eyewitness told the Nigerian Tribune that a Peugeot 505 station wagon and a Honda Accord collided at a bend.”

Attempt to rescue the occupants of the two vehicles proved abortive as the intensity of the flame made it impossible for rescuers to approach the vehicles.

“So, all the 12 passengers of the vehicles were burnt to ashes. The remains of the dead were later conveyed to the Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, by officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC),” the eyewitness said.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the FRSC in Zamfara State, Alhaji Kabir Musa Kankiya, confirmed the deaths.

Alhaji Kankiya advised drivers against speeding and the need to obey traffic rules, adding that “the best driver is he who arrives his destination safely.”

Tragedy hit the family of Okon on Tuesday in Ondo State as a member of staff of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, (FUTA) and head of the family, Mr. Sunday Okon, committed suicide by hanging himself.

Besides, rescue workers on Monday recovered three more bodies in the waterway of Igbo-Egurin in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.

This took the number of victims of the canoe accident of Sunday recovered from the waterways to nine, six bodies having been recovered on Monday.

Okon, a former security guard, who was later drafted to the office, was said to have hanged himself at about 2.30 a.m.

According to the wife of the deceased, Emman, the 45-year-old man left her in the room, saying he wanted to go to the toilet.

She said she became apprehensive when he did not return after about 30 minutes and she began to search for him in the building.

Emman said she later raised the alarm and alerted other members of the house located on bye-pass road, Akure, who helped her to search for him.

She said the body of the father of four was later found in the store of the building dangling. According to her, Okon just returned from his hometown in Cross River State where he spent his annual leave.

Okon was said to have told his wife that his employer had asked him to bring his passport photograph to the office for a reason he did not disclose to his wife.

The wife said her husband, before travelling for the leave, had been complaining of stomach pains, which made his boss to approve his leave so that he could treat himself.

Men of the Ondo State command of the Nigeria Police untied the body of Okon from where he hanged himself and took it to the morgue at the state specialist hospital.

In Sokoto State, an early morning fire destroyed properties worth millions of naira at the Old Market in Sokoto.

It took firemen many hours to bring the situation under control. Although no casualties were recorded, many of the affected traders said they would find it difficult to recover from the losses suffered. The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.