Four burnt to death in Lagos-Ibadan Expressway accident

Posted by admin Headlines, Lagos, Oyo, State News Thursday, April 12th, 2012

April 12, 2012 by Kunle Falayi

Officials of the FRSC packing the bodies at the scene.

Three adults and a child were burnt to death on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Wednesday after a bus lost control and burst into flames.

According to eyewitnesses, the two front tyres of the Mazda bus burst and the driver lost control and hit a culvert between the AP filling station and a firm, Eldorado.

The bus with the number plate XT 935 KSF was said to have loaded passengers from Ojota Park and was heading to Ibadan when the incident occurred.

It was learnt that the driver of the bus ran away immediately the accident happened.

The Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Sagamu, Mr. Lasisi Ogundele, who led a team to the scene of the accident, confirmed that 15 passengers were in the bus.

“Six of the passengers sustained injuries while four of them, including a baby were burnt beyond recognition,” he said.

As the FRSC team worked to extricate the bodies from the bus, a young man, wailed nearby.

The man, Bolaji Bankole, was a survivor of the accident. His mother was one of those who died in the accident.

All he could do was point to the vehicle and wail, saying, “My mother is in there, my mother is in there.”

Sympathisers, who were in tears, consoled him and contacted his family members on the phone.

Ogundele told PUNCH Metro later on the phone that the injured were first taken to the Road Safety Emergency Clinic on the expressway for first aid.

He said, “They were later taken to the Federal Medical Centre and a hospital in Gbagada for comprehensive treatment.

“The bodies of those who died were deposited at the morgue of the Isolo General Hospital, Lagos. The families of the deceased have been here and we have directed them to the mortuary. But it might be a problem to identify the bodies because of their state.”

Meanwhile, an accident involving a trailer loaded with fertilisers and a tipper caused a gridlock on the expressway on Wednesday evening.

The trailer, with number plate XP 337 ABC, reportedly swerved to avoid the tipper, which had crossed to its lane. But the trailer overturned, spilling its content across the expressway.

No casualty was recorded. But the driver was nowhere to be found when our correspondent got to the scene.

The driver’s assistant, who was at the scene, refused to answer questions and did not disclose the whereabouts of the driver.

A policewoman at the scene said she had called for help from her division and that FRSC had been notified.

-Punchwp_posts