Ibadan — Fifteen pupils of a private primary school in Ibadan, Oyo State capital were yesterday trapped as their school bus suddenly caught fire as they were being conveyed to the school early in the morning.

The children aged between five and 11, said to be pupils of Divine Wisdom Group of Schools, Amosun area in the Lagelu Local Government Area of the state, were consequently rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan where majority of them were admitted following the varied degrees of burns they sustained in the fire incident.

The driver of the ill-fated school bus, Mr. Serif Oyedele, had earlier picked the children at their various homes before tragedy occurred midway as the bus suddenly caught fire, leaving most of the pupils with varying degrees of burns.

The driver, on noticing the vehicle malfunctioning at Iyana-Church area, was said to have stopped the engine and had to come down to ascertain the problem only for him to see the bus catching fire later.

According to sources, the driver had asked the older children among the pupils to come down from the bus so as to help him push the bus, having discovered that the bus had battery problem.

However, it was gathered that some of the children instantly called the driver's attention to fuel dripping from under the vehicle, only for it to catch fire few seconds later.

In the ensuing inferno, about 13 children in the bus were said to have severely burnt, while those pushing the vehicle escaped unhurt.

The bus driver, Oyedele, who had his hand and leg burnt while trying to rescue children, told inquisitive newsmen that he succeeded in removing about seven out of the vehicle before he was joined by people in the area.

His words: "After I checked and discovered that the bus had battery problem, I told some of the older ones among the children to assist me in pushing it but while pushing they told me that fuel was dripping from underneath the vehicle. As I tried to open the engine, fire just emerged. That was how the whole bus got burnt. It was when I was trying to rescue the children that I also got burnt in the hand and leg but I was able to rescue about seven pupils before people joined me".

All the pupils were later carried in a commercial cab and motorcycles to the UCH for proper medical attention.

The incident threw areas like Wakajaye, Iyana-Church, Maku, Amosun and other communities into confusion as many parents who had children in the school, especially those whose children had been picked, rushed to the scene to see things for themselves.

The sad news filtered to the entire neighbourhood like wildfire while the affected school was deserted. Residents of the area were seen clustering in groups discussing the incident.

It was gathered that the school proprietress, Deaconess Oke Ejemuta, ordered the school shut on hearing the bad news while herself and all the teachers were said to have rushed to the Emergency Unit of the UCH where the children were receiving treatment.

The emergency unit of UCH was overcrowded as many of the victims' parents who rushed in there, wept uncontrollably on sighting their affected children.

But the school proprietress told newsmen that the ill-fated Ford bus was bought only last year, adding that the driver, who was a mechanic, was employed for the purpose of handling any problem arising from the use of the bus.

She declared: "This is certainly, an arrow, but God is in control".