No less than four persons were crushed to death yesterday in Ibadan when a truck conveying sharp sand reportedly suffered break failure along the Moniya-Iseyin road.

According to The Nation, at least ten persons also suffered varying degree of injuries while five motorcycles and three tricycles were destroyed beyond repair.

The victims included a motorcycle operator, a woman, an underaged boy and a trader at the Moniya butcher market.

It was gathered while all the victims met their misfortune at the point of doing business, the underaged boy was on an errand to purchase vegetables at the market.

It was also learnt the victims died at the spot except the woman who gave up the ghost while being rushed to the hospital.

The driver of the truck was said to have escaped from the scene of the incident unhurt.

Sources around the scene said the casualty figure would have been higher but for a member of the transport union unit at the Moniya garage who alerted people to scamper to safety following the haphazard manner the truck was descending the hilly road.

It was gathered the driver was struggling to gain control of the truck suspected to have left a garage within the Moniya axis with the load of sand.

Chairman National Union of Road Transport Workers, (Motorcycle) Moniya Garage Unit, Idris Oladoja, described the incident as a sad development that could have been averted.

Confirming the causality figure, Oladoja said the portholes on the road as well as its narrowness contributed to the accident, urging the government to come to the aid of the road users in the axis.

His counterpart at the tricycle unit, Femi Adeniyi, said he was the one who saw how the tipper was wavering in its movement while descending the hilly but rough road while it was about 200 metres away.

He said despite screaming and shouting the motorcycles and tricycles parked by roadside to get clear of the road, the noise from the environment and vehicular movement made it difficult for people to get the message on time after which the tipper swerved into the butcher market.

Men of the police force from nearby Moniya Divisional headquarters and Ojoo were seen at the scene maintaining traffic flow as well as law and order.

Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command Adekunle Ajisebutu said two people were confirmed dead and their corpses deposited at the State Hospital, Mortuary, Ringroad, Ibadan for autopsy.

He added the erring driver of the tipper has been arrested and the truck recovered to the station for VIO inspection.