At least four students have been reportedly crushed to death on Monday morning, while several were injured after a truck carrying building materials lost control in Egbolo, Igalamela-Odolu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
A trending video showed that the incident occurred around 8:30am while residents cried out in distress as they helped pull the children out from under the truck. The pupils were said to be walking from Egbolo to Ofuloko when the truck, which was struggling to climb a hill along the Idah route, suddenly veered off and fell on them.
The incident immediately sparked protest as residents took to the streets in their numbers, saying their community has no functioning school, blaming the tragedy on the long distances their children must trek through unsafe routes to attend classes in neighbouring villages.
One of the parents whose son was among the victims accused the government of neglecting Egbolo for years and called for urgent action to stop further incidents.
A correspondent with Arise News at the accident scene revealed that officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) had not arrived at the time of filing this report, and some pupils were still trapped under the overturned truck.
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