No fewer than three people lost their lives and 15 others when two commuter buses collided at Awolowo Road junction, Bodija area, Ibadan on Sunday. A Lagos bound Volkswagen bus with Lagos State number plate LSR 945 XH and Toyota bus with Oyo State number plate AJ 91 MNY carrying passengers were involved in the collision.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) DSP Olabisi Ilobanafo, who confirmed the incident, said the injured persons were receiving treatment at the Emergency Care Unit of the University College Hospital, Ibadan.

Eyewitnesses said the accident was caused by over-speeding. A security guard with a bank opposite the scene said the driver of the Lagos-bound bus was drunk while bottles of beer were found in his bus. “The Lagos-bound bus was coming from the University of Ibadan end of the road while the other bus was coming from the secretariat end.

At the intersection, the Ibadan bus wanted to negotiate the bend to Awolowo Road but the Lagos-bound bus was speeding too fast, leading to the collision. If the other bus had exercised patience before negotiating the bend, the accident would have been averted. During rescue operation, "we noticed that those in the Lagos bus were coming from a party and the driver was drunk. There were cans and bottles of wine and beer in the bus.”

A newspaper vendor at the junction said one person died in the Lagos-bound bus while two others, including a security man, who had boarded the intra-city bus a few minutes earlier before the collision. “A passenger beside the Lagos bus died while many others were injured. Sadly too, an aged security man, who just closed from work and had just boarded the Ibadan bus also died," he said.