Road clashes claim 25 commuters in Lagos, Oyo, Enugu
Twenty-five persons died yesterday in road accidents in Oyo, Enugu and Lagos states.
Ten commuters involved in the Oyo-Ogbomoso Road accident, and five in kthe Badagry, Lagos incident, were burnt beyond recognition, it was said.
The Oyo crash was a collision between a Mazda and Toyota
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan.
The FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Joshua Adekanye, said the incident occurred at about 5.30am around Km12 on Oyo-Ogbomoso Road.
He said the buses were coming from Lagos and Nasarawa states, respectively.
Adekanye said the vehicles went up in flames immediately upon impact.He attributed the accident to speeding and overloading.
The Enugu incident, which happened on Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, was also a collision but between a bus and truck.
Ten persons were feared dead in the incident.
The crash occurred at about 9am near CBN Bus Stop, in Enugu, when an 18-seater bus ran into a trailer carrying cement.
The Nation learnt that Road Safety officials and passersby pulled at least seven bodies from the wreckage of the vehicles.
Other passengers in the ill-fated vehicles were brought out unconscious and rushed to a nearby hospital, where more passengers were confirmed dead on arrival by medical officials.
One of the eyewitnesses who spoke with our correspondent, said the vehicle, which loaded from Abakpa, in Enugu East local government, was headed to New Market,. Enugu when the accident occurred.
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“The driver was coming from Abakpa and made attempts to overtake another vehicle.
“As he attempted to overtake the vehicle, the next thing we heard was a loud sound and the bus was completely damaged. I don’t know how many survived but I counted over eight bodies on the floor,” the eyewitness Chukwudi said.
Many attributed the crash to the poor state of the road which forced many motorists to ride against traffic.
Five persons were burnt beyond recognition while three sustained injuries in the accident on the Badagry-Seme Expressway in Lagos.
Mr Sulaiman Taiwo, Unit Commander of the FRSC at Badagry, confirmed the accident.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the accident occurred at Akoro Village, on the Badagry-Sème Expressway.
The accident involved a Honda Pilot SUV and motorcycle.
Taiwo said the driver of the Honda Pilot must have been speeding and lost control before hitting the motorcycle.
“By the time we got to the scene, the raging fire had burnt three persons beyond recognition, while two others lost their lives during the rescue operation.
“Three persons that survived the inferno were taken to the General Hospital in Badagry while the five corpses were deposited at the mortuary in the same hospital,’’ he said.
Taiwo added that the prompt response by personnel of the Customs Service, Fire Brigade, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the police has restored normalcy to the area.
Also speaking with NAN, Medical Director, General Hospital, Badagry, Dr Olatunde Bakare, said some relations of the dead had reported to claim the bodies, while the three survivors were receiving treatment at the Emergency Unit of the hospital.
He urged motorists and other road users to stop carrying petrol inside jerry cans in their vehicles as the rate at which the hospital was treating victims of fire incidents was alarming.
