The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Crash

  • Driver dies in crash

    One person was yesterday confirmed dead in an accident involving a Green Mazda 323 car and a Mercedes Benz truck in Iju on the Sango/Idiroko road.

    Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE) Public Relations Officer Babatunde Akinbiyi said the accident which happened around 8am was caused by speeding and wrongful overtaking by the Mazda bus.

    “The Mazda car with no registration number, in an attempt to overtake the vehicle in its front, ran into the oncoming Mercedes Benz truck marked SMK 249 XE, from the other direction.

    “The driver of the Mazda car died in the process, while the truck driver was unhurt,’’ he said.

    The body, Akinbiyi said,   had been handed over  to the bereaved family.   The vehicles are at the Onipanu Divisional Police Station at Iju, Lagos.

  • 10 dead after light plane crashes into house

    Ten people, including three children, were killed on Saturday when a twin-engine light aircraft crashed into a house in the northern Philippines, officials said.

    The Piper 23 Apache plane had just taken off from an airport in the town of Plaridel in Bulacan province when it stalled and plunged, said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.

    The plane, which was on its way to the northern city of Laoag, was carrying four passengers and the pilot, who were all killed in the crash, Aviation Authority spokesman, Eric Apolonio, said.

    The co-pilot, who was on the flight manifest, reported that he was not able to go on the trip, he added.

    The aircraft burst into flames as it crashed into the house in a nearby village, killing five residents, according to Plaridel town Mayor Jocell Vista Casaje.

    “Three children aged 7, 10 and 17 years were among those killed in the house. We just retrieved the last body from the gutted house,” Casaje said.

    The father of the family that lived in the house said his two sons, wife, daughter and mother-in-law were home during the accident, said Felicisima Mungcal, head of the provincial disaster relief agency.

    “The house was totally gutted by the fire,” she said, adding that the victims were reportedly having lunch when the accident happened.

    The father of the family, who arrived after some bodies had already been retrieved, was “very distraught but accepted it was an accident,” Casaje said.

    Investigators have yet to determine what caused the plane crash. Aviation authorities have grounded all aircraft of the company that operated the ill-fated Piper 23 Apache

  • Eight Libya returnees die in crash

    Eight Libya returnees die in crash

    Eight persons among those brought back from Libya last week, have died in an accident.

    Seven others sustained injuries.

    The crash occurred on Ore-Ijebu Ode-Sagamu expressway, Ogun State.

    The victims were said to have embarked on a journey to Lagos to see a popular pastor to seek financial assistance, after being allegedly informed that the pastor doles out N50,000 each to Libya returnees, who arrived through Lagos.

    The Nation learnt that the accident occurred last Tuesday near Omoo River area popularly called J4 and it involved a white Toyota Hiace 18-seater commercial bus marked AYB 479 XA and a blue and white Volvo truck registered as KSF 79 XL.

    It was gathered that 15 Libya returnees, including five women, left Benin at night after being profiled by the Edo State Task Force on Anti-human Trafficking and Illegal Migration.

    The identities of the victims are yet to be disclosed, as there was no manifest from the commercial bus to indicate their names and destinations.

    Ogun State Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Mr. Clement Oladele told our reporter on the phone that the driver of the truck drove against the traffic and had a head-on collision with the bus.

    “The injured were taken to General Hospital, Ijebu-Ode and the bodies were deposited at the hospital mortuary,” he said.

    Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy to Governor Godwin Obaseki Mr. Crusoe Osagie said the government was sad over the incident.

    He said it should not be blamed for the accident, as assistance was provided for the returnees to enable them to be reintegrated into the society and unite with their families.

    ”It is not like they were kept in prison as in Libya. They might have embarked on the trip to Lagos on their own. However, the government will make efforts to reach the families of those who died or are injured.”

  • Five die in Lagos-Ibadan road crash

    Five die in Lagos-Ibadan road crash

    • 13 others injured

    Five persons, including a baby, have died in a road crash at the Ogere (Ogun State) stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    Thirteen others were injured.

    The accident, which occurred early yesterday, involved a Mazda bus, registered as DDA 121 XA and a truck, marked: MGD 129 ZF.

    It was learnt that the driver of the bus lost control, veered off his lane and crashed into a packed trailer by the roadside.

    Five of the passengers were said to have died on the scene.

    The Sector Commander of Ogun State Command of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Clement Oladele said the bus carried 18 passengers and was travelling from Ibadan to Lagos.

    Oladele said three men, one woman and a male child died in the accident while six men , two women and five male children were injured.

    The FRSC chief blamed the accident on dangerous driving and failure to follow road safety rules by the bus driver.

    He said: “Failure to follow road safety rules caused the accident. Immediately the incident happened, the driver of the commercial bus ran away.

    “A man-hunt has been launched to arrest the driver and charge him for dangerous driving leading to the death of some of his passengers.

    “The injured have been taken to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) at Sagamu and Vitory Hospital at Ogere for treatment. The remains of the dead passengers have been deposited at a morgue at Ipara in Ogun State.”

  • FRSC hails group for saving crash victims

    FRSC hails group for saving crash victims

    The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has praised a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Health Emergency Initiative (HEI), for saving over 200 accident victims in the last two years.

    During a five-kilometre walk, carnival and charity programme organised by HEI in Lagos, the state’s Sector Commander Hyginus Omeje said HEI saved the victims’ lives through prompt intervention and payment of hospital bills.

    Omeje, represented by Mrs Ololade Mala, Sector Assistant Route Commander, FRSC, said: “The HEI has done so well in saving the lives of accident victims through its quick intervention to them at all times.

    “An example is the recent crash at the Kara Bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; the organisation helped to make some payments to the state hospitals where they had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

    “This enabled the victims to receive prompt treatment to save their lives before their relatives were contacted.

    “This is in sync with part of the 2017 Strategic Goals of FRSC; the goal to improve enforcement and post crash care by reducing traffic crash by 15 per cent and fatality by 25 per cent.

    “The HEI has been doing tremendous work to ensure that the lives of indigent and vulnerable victims are not lost as a result of road crashes,” he said.

  • Two injured as motorcyclist dies in crash

    One person died at the weekend at the point of diverting traffic from Akungba-Iwaro-Okeoka-Isua Road to Ikare-Arigidi-Ikaram-Akoko in Ondo State.

    The diversion followed the commencement of the rehabilitation of the Iwaro Oka-Isua Road.

    A commercial motorcyclist (popularly called Okada) collided with an articulated truck at “Semusemu” area of Ikare-Akoko.

    He died instantly.

    The second accident involved another truck at a Muslim praying ground on Ikare Akoko-Ugbe Road.

    The vehicle was said to have skidded off the road and rammed into a nearby house. Two children were injured.

    The kids were reportedly taken to the specialist hospital at Ikare-Akoko for treatment.

    Chief Medical Director (CMD) Dr Wale Oguntuase said: “One commercial motorcyclist was brought here dead. Two children were also rushed here. The condition of one of them was critical. He had to be referred to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) at Owo.’’

    Unit Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) at Ikare-Akoko, Jimoh Basiru, confirmed the incidents.

    He said his men took the victims to hospital.

    The Aare Iyalaje of Ikare-Akoko, Hajia Risikatu Mohammed, cautioned traders at Olukare Palace Central Mosque and Post Office at Ikare to desist from displaying their wares on the road.

    She hailed the FRSC for reducing road carnage in Akoko.

    The FRSC, it was learnt, had been advising road users to be careful at the wheels.

    Besides, they warned motorcyclists to use helmets to protect their heads, in case of a crash.

  • Nigeria loses N30tr to oil price crash, says Awolowo

    Nigeria loses N30tr to oil price crash, says Awolowo

    The Executive Director, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Olusegun Awolowo yesterday lamented that Nigeria has lost over N30trillion of export revenue to the crash in oil prices.

    Awolowo  spoke at a one day NEPC, RVO, CBI Export Roundtable and Exhibition on Export Competency Development programme in Abuja, said the loss was between 2015-2017.

    He said last month, the national economic management team established the national committee on export promotion to ensure effective coordination of the zero oil plan in the 36 states of the federation.

    He said the recent recession was due to a $30billion annual deficit in Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings due to low oil prices.

    He said: “Nigeria must replace these lost export revenues in order to sustain economic growth, stabilise the naira, sustain federal and state government income and boost employment.

    “There is an urgency to ramp up non-oil exports, as our future earnings from crude oil which is facing significant headwinds. This is elevated as the financial outlook on crude oil weakens day by day and poses increasing threat on oil dependent economy just like Nigeria. We are at a critical point in Nigeria’s history which requires bold and decisive action to restructure and reposition our economy to survive without oil.

    “The council’s goal is to grow Nigeria’s non-oil export revenue from N1.5trillion per annum to N5trillion within three to four years, and over N10trillion over the longer term. The economic consequences are dire for our country to keep crude oil as its primary source of export revenue. There is too much oil supply and shrinking demand.

    “The zero plan has been included as a central part of Nigeria economic recovery plan. The three products under the export competency development pilot scheme are among the 22 in the zero oil plan.

    “Our export outlook in 2017 shows some positive developments. A lot of cashew plantation with jumbo varieties are springing up, from a raw cashew production of about 150,000tons to 15,000 tons are processed ii Nigeria which is just 10 per cent. We see enormous potential in processing.”

    Awolowo added that the cocoa sector has suffered a setback since 2017 but the longer term prospects are positive and we need to be in position to take advantage of that opportunity.

  • Trader killed in road crash

    Trader killed in road crash

    •Another injured

    A trailer yesterday killed a trader on Iyana-Isolo Bridge.

    The incident occurred a few minutes after 4 p.m as the vehicle was descending the bridge.

    The trailer, The Nation learnt, had a brake failure.

    It clamped the woman’s leg as she alighted from a tricycle to run to safety.

    Another trailer was said to have injured a man on the same spot earlier in the day.

    The woman, The Nation learnt, shouted after the trailer hit her, which attracted the attention of passers-by.

    The trailer had crushed her to death before help got her way.

    The tricycle driver escaped through the other way.

    The accident led to a traffic snarl from the bridge back to Isolo.

    Policemen were deployed in the area to ensure normalcy.

    Officials of the Lagos State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU) evacuated the woman’s body, which was wrapped in a big polythene bag beside the road.

    Passers-by gathered to catch a glimpse of the body.

    They were not deterred by the presence of the policemen, who chased some of them away to allow SEHMU officials carry out their duties.

    Marked KTU 514 ER, the SEHMU ambulance was driven to the station where the children of the deceased converged.

    Though they appeared calm, the children were seen discussing whether to bury the deceased yesterday or allowed SEHMU officials to keep her  remains in a mortuary.

    One of them, a woman said: “I am confused; I don’t know what to do. Must these drivers put a faulty trailer on the road, thereby causing irreplaceable damage to road users? Why can’t the driver fix the vehicle’s brake before putting it on the road? See what his negligence and wicked action has cost us.”

    The family later agreed to get a casket at Idi-Araba for the burial of their mother yesterday.

    “There’s no point delaying her body and depositing it in the mortuary. We have agreed to bury her today (yesterday),” the daughter also said.

    An eyewitness said the woman boarded the tricycle to Mushin in front of the Isolo campus of Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH).

    She said: “The accident occurred some minutes past 4 p.m. The woman, having learnt that the brake of the trailer coming from the rear had failed and another trailer in front of the tricycle had developed a fault, tried to escape. Immediately she jumped out of the tricycle, the trailer hit her on the leg and she shouted. That was what attracted us to the scene. But before we got there, the trailer had crushed the woman. The driver escaped through his side. Both of them might have died if they had remained in the tricycle because the trailer had destroyed the tricycle beyond repair.”

    The trailer driver, it was learnt, manoeuvred the vehicle towards the culvert, to avoid further deaths and damage at Oye Bus Stop.

    The remains of the woman were taken away for burial.

  • Two killed in Ekiti road crash

    •FRSC: speeding caused accident

    Two persons died yesterday at Ajebamidele Junction on Ikere Road in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, in a road crash at 8 a.m.

    A red Mazda car, said to be coming from nearby Ikere-Ekiti, rammed into a stationary Mercedes Benz truck parked on the roadside.

    The loud bang from the crash caused panic in the area.

    The car, which carried five persons, was said to have lost control and veered off the highway.

    The identities of the victims could not be ascertained last night.

    The Mazda car’s registration number is (Lagos) TY 333 AAA while the Mercedes Benz truck was marked (Lagos) AAA 242 XA.

    Some bystanders waiting for commercial vehicles and bikes on the side of the road escaped being hit by car.

    The impact of the crash displaced the truck.

    The accident caused a traffic gridlock on Ado-Ikere highway as anxious residents trooped to the scene. Many of them broke down in tears when the bodies of the victims were removed from the car.

    Policemen and officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) joined other residents to rescue the accident victims from the mangled car.

    Police spokesman Alberto Adeyemi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the death of two of the victims.

    He said three others were on danger list at the Emergency Ward of Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH).

    FRSC’s Public Education Officer for Ekiti Sector Command, Mohammed Olowo, said the accident was caused by speeding.

    Olowo said: “Speeding on the part of the driver of the Mazda car caused the accident. Five people were involved and the victims were taken to the hospital.”

  • Ex-Governor Suntai dies five years after surviving plane crash

    Ex-Governor Suntai dies five years after surviving plane crash

    Two days to his 56th birthday, a former Taraba State Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai died yesterday in Orlando, Florida, United States.

    He had been in and out of hospital in Europe and the U.S. in the last five years, after surviving a plane crash at the Yola airport.

    Then the sitting governor of his state, he flew the aircraft that crashed on October 25, 2012 but managed to complete his tenure in 2015 after being treated for the injuries he sustained.

    The former governor was born in Suntai, Bali Local Government Area on June 30, 1961

    The Aide-de-Camp to Suntai, Mr. Dasat Iliya; his Chief Security Officer Timo Dangana and the Chief Detail, Joel Dangana, were also aboard the private Cessna plane that crashed.

    Following the crash the ex-governor was initially treated at Adamawa Standard German Hospital in Yola, the National Hospital in Abuja on October 26, 2012 and at a hospital in Germany.

    On his discharge from the german hospital, he was moved to a rehabilitation centre in the United States.

    Suntai in 2009 survived food poisoning. He took a medical leave to detoxify his system in a German hospital.

    Suntai’s former Commissioner for Information, Emmanuel Bello, a senior special assistant to Governor Darius Ishaku, said Suntai died in the early hours of yesterday. But he could not give the detail.

    Bello said:   “Former Governor Suntai is dead. It is two days to his birthday. Life. And death. And politics.”

    A source said: “The plane crash affected his brain, hearing and speech. He could barely communicate or audible. It has been harrowing with his wife, ex-First Lady Hauwa bearing the burden.

    “He also suffered problem in his spinal cord because he was on specialized wheelchair in the past fiveyears.

    “I think he got the best medical care from his family and he virtually lost everything to huge hospital bills. He was a good man.”

    Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, representing Taraba southern zone, has described the death of the former Governor of Taraba State Danbaba Danfulani Suntai as the “will of God.”

    He was undergoing rehabilitation from the injuries he sustained in a plane crash near Yola –the Adamawa State capital on October 2012 in Orlando, Florida USA.

    Senator Bwacha said he received the news of his death with a “rude shock.”

    “But I give glory to God.

    “The death of former Governor Danbaba Suntai is according to His (God’s) will,” Bwacha said.

    A former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi described Suntai’s death as painful and prayed to God to grant him eternal rest, and to grant to his family and the people of Taraba state the fortitude to accept His will.

    Taraba State House of Assembly Speaker Peter Abel Diah said: “His demise is shocking. The last time, I learnt he wasn’t doing fine. It’s really sad.”