From Funso Muraina in Akure, 05.05.2005

Nobody survived in the accident which occurred about three kilometers from Akure, the state capital and left virtually all the bodies of the victims seriously mangled.
Eyewitness accounts of the incident revealed that the truck with registration number Plateau 736 QAP was on high speed when a herd of cows crossed the highway.
In a desperate attempt to avert the accident, the vehicle hit one of the cows which swerved the truck to hit the on-coming bus.
The bus with registration number Abuja XCT 619 RSH has about 19 passengers mostly women who all died instantly.
Before their death, the truck dragged the bus for about a few yards where it had hit the black cow (which also died) and finely rested its whole body on the bus.
A combined team of rescue officers made up of the officials of Federal Road Safety Corps, police and fire servicemen later arrived at the scene of the accident.
Sympathisers, who completely broke down, could not help as the bus was completely buried under the truck.
At 7.30am, the state Ministry of Works sent down a crane and three other heavy duty machines to remove the truck.
When bodies were being taken out one after the other, sympathisers who could not stand the ugly scene broke down completely while the younger ones threatened to unleash terror on the cow owners.
For over three hours, traffic stood still as no vehicle could move either way.
People have no choice but to join the wailing crowd and abused the cow owners.
The peak of the agony was when the charred bodies of the female corps members in their uniforms were retrieved but identifying them was simply impossible but men of the road safety corps took a census of the dead before loading them in two vehicles.
They were all deposited at the mortuary of the state Specialist Hospital in Akure around 10.00am.
Commenting, the Director of Fire Services, Mr. Idowu Fatoyinbo, said “we were informed immediately after the incident but because of dearth of equipment we had to seek assistance elsewhere.”
“You can see that our people have tried their best. It is unfortunate that these Nigerians have to die this way,” he said.

In his own reaction, FRSC Ondo State Sector Commander, Mr. Ahmed Hassan, confirmed the accident and advised drivers against recklessness.
Some of the sympathisers interviewed called for legislation against open “herding” of animals.
They said “if the country could continue to lose its human resources to accident, government must make laws against this practice.”
Others advised the road safety corps to emphasise the need for commercial vehicles to always keep manifest of the passengers.