Grieving parents, relations and friends yesterday besieged the morgue of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State, to claim the corpses of 12 students of the institution who died in a motor accident on Friday.
The accident happened on the Lagos –Ibadan Expressway when a 20-feet container fell off a moving truck and crushed the Toyota Hiace passenger bus in which the students were travelling to Lagos for the weekend.
The Students Union of the institution yesterday released the names of seven of the victims.
They are: Odubanjo Eunice Oluwadamilola (Pol. Science, 200 level); Ogunnoiki Omolade Mariam (EFM History 100 level); Aribiola Yetunde Elizabeth (Biochemistry, 100 level); Adams Suliat Oluwatobi (Accounting, 100 level); Pampam Funmilayo Latifat (Chemical Science, 100 level); Asade Christianah Ibukun (Law, 200 level) and Dairo Olatunji Michael (Physics, Graduate).
The students’ body said some items bearing the names of the following people were recovered from the scene: Kutu Ayonimofe Emmanuel, Ayoola Sheriff Gbolahan, Akinyemi Remilekun and Kazeem Akeem.
It however said: “This does not mean the persons were involved.”
A Chemical Science student, Akinbo Laughter Ibukun, was named as survivor of the accident.
The union said autopsy on the dead was in progress.
It declared tomorrow black Monday during which there will be no lectures at all the campuses of the institution in honour of the dead.
A candle-lit procession will also be held by the students.
“No Club should operate within OOU environs on this day,” it said.
Many of the parents, relations and friends who went to the OOUTH morgue were advised to search elsewhere.
Head of the teaching hospital’s Morbid Anatomy and Histopathology Department, Dr Deji Agboola, told The Nation that he had checked twice and found that corpses of students said to have died in an accident were not kept at OOUTH.
Agboola, an associate professor who also doubles as the Chairman of the OOU branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), said grieving relatives had been coming since Friday following media reports that the dead were deposited at the OOUTH.
He said the wrong information was creating problem as it tended to give the impression that they had something to hide.
Agboola said an investigation by himself, the Head of the Students Affairs and Chief Security Officer of the institution showed that the corpses were deposited at Fakoya Hospital, Sagamu.
Former governor of Abia State Dr Orji Uzor Kalu yesterday sympathised with the management, staff and students of the university over the loss.
Kalu, in a condolence message said he was ”shocked and devastated when I heard the news.”
”It is disheartening to lose our leaders of tomorrow in such a circumstance. It is sad that the students died in their prime at a time the country needs the younger generation to contribute their knowledge towards the growth of the society,” he said and prayed for the repose of the souls of the dead.
Kalu commiserated with the Ogun State Government and the bereaved families on the tragedy.
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