Three persons of the same family lost their lives on Sunday when the car they were travelling in plunged into a river following the sudden collapse of a bridge during a downpour in Ilorin.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday on Okoerin road, off lbrahim Taiwo road, in the llorin metropolis.

A witness said the incident occurred during heavy rain which lasted for more than four hours.

It was gathered that there were five people in the Toyota car with registration number LRN-978FE when the accident occurred.

The bridge which had been in existence for over two decades suddenly collapsed during the rain and the car plunged into the flowing river under the bridge.

Two out of the five occupants of the vehicle were said to have escaped without any injury.

The car was still trapped in the river at the time of filing this report.

The State Director of Fire Service, Abdulwaheed lyanda-Yakub, who spoke with NAN at the scene of the incident, confirmed that three persons of the same family’ lost their lives in the accident.

He disclosed that the state fire service was able to recover only one dead body and had yet to recover the bodies of the other two victims.

“We are still searching for the remaining two bodies since the river is flowing one, we are making effort to secure the other two dead bodies,” the fire director said.

The state Commissioner for Works and Transport, Rotimi Iliasu, while speaking with NAN after he visited the collapsed bridge described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the family of the dead.

Mr Iliasu attributed the bridge’s collapse to constant dumping of refuse under the bridge which he said impeded the free flow of water.

He called on residents of the state to desist from dumping refuse under bridges and waterways to avert disasters.

The commissioner, who emphasised the importance of the road, said the ministry had begun repair works on the bridge.

”Consequently, the Okoerin road has been blocked while some personnel from the state traffic management authority are at the scene of the collapsed bridge to monitor diversion of traffic,” he said.