The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nine die

  • Nine die in Lagos-Ibadan Expressway accident

    Nine persons were feared dead yesterday in an accident involving a Mercedes-Benz Marcopolo bus and an Iveco truck at Aseese area of the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.

    The Ogun State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr Clement Oladele, confirmed the figure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abeokuta, the state capital.

    Oladele said the accident was caused by speeding by the driver of the bus, marked (Lagos) SMK 867 XG.

    The sector commander said the bus lost control and collided with the parked truck with registration number (Lagos) AAA XP at 5.30 a.m.

    He added: “Forty-two persons were involved in the accident; they comprised 34 males and eight females.

    “Three male and two female adults were injured while seven male and two female adults died.” The sector commander told NAN that the injured victims were taken to a nearby hospital while the bodies were deposited at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital mortuary at Sagamu in Ogun State.

     

  • Nine die in Ekiti road crash

    Nine persons died yesterday in an accident at Igede town in Ekiti State.

    One other person was seriously injured in the crash.

    The bodies and blood of the victims littered the road.

    The accident occurred at 6.15 a.m in front of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office on Igede-Awo Road.

    The nine persons reportedly died on the spot. The injured was taken to a hospital.

    People wept profusely at the sight of the mangled bodies of the victims, including one with a severed head.

    The accident involved an 18-seater Toyota Hiace Hummer bus with registration number (Lagos) EKY 978 XJ and a DAF marked (Yobe) XB 404 FKA.

    An eyewitness said the bus ran into the truck, which was reportedly conveying planks, losing control and causing the truck to equally lose control.

    The Public Education Officer of Ekiti Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Mohammed Olowo, attributed the possible cause of the crash to “speeding and loss of control”.

    Olowo added that the bodies of victims had been deposited at the morgue of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti (FETHI).

    He urged motorists to exercise caution while driving and obey traffic rules.

  • Rage of fire in Lagos

    •Four injured

    Nine die, 54 vehicles burnt in tanker fire

    Buhari, Ambode sympathise with victims’ families

    No fewer than nine people died and about 54 vehicles burnt yesterday during a tanker fire outbreak on Otedola Bridge, a Lagos suburb on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    Four people – two of them critically – were injured as those caught in the fire tried to escape.

    The accident occurred at the peak of traffic as workers were returning home around 5pm after the close of work. It led to serious traffic snarl in and out of the state.

    Emergency workers had a tough time accessing the scene as a result of the traffic and the crowd that gathered near the scene.

    It was learnt that a tanker laden with petrol fell while ascending the bridge, spilling its content and caught fire.

    The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Adesina Tiamiyu, said: “Nine bodies were recovered and four injured people. Two of the injured were in critical condition. They have all been moved to the hospital.

    “We are removing the burnt vehicles from the road in order to ease traffic congestion.

    “We advise people travelling to Ibadan or outside Lagos to use alternative routes.”

    The spokesman for the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Bisi Kazeem, attributed the cause of the accident that led to the inferno to a “brake failure”.

    According to him, the affected vehicles comprised of the fuel tanker, five buses, two trucks, one tricycle, and 45 cars.

    He said the registration numbers of the affected vehicles could not be ascertained “as all the vehicles were burnt.”

    The Commander of the Lagos State crime-fighting outfit – Rapid Response Squad (RRS) – Tunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said his men that they had tough time controlling the crowd. He appealed to residents to stop overcrowding disaster scenes.

    Many eyewitnesses disputed the emergency services’ casualty figure. According to them, many more died or were injured.

    The motorboy of a truck parked a few metres away identified himself as Stephen Daniel.

    Daniel said he watched the accident unfold, claiming he counted more than nine bodies.

    He said: “I was beside my truck when the incident occurred. I think it was brake failure. I saw the truck lose control and hit the pillar. The tank broke away from the head of the truck and opened. Fuel started gushing out. The driver of a car behind the truck tried to reverse, but the car caused a spark and the tanker caught fire.”

    According to Daniel, the casualty was higher than the official figure.

    “The bodies I saw were more than 16. They were mostly children,” he claimed.

    Another eyewitness, who gave his name simply as Seyi, said he ran towards the scene of the fire from Alausa, just before the emergency services began evacuating casualties.

    He said: “I work near Alausa. The dead were many. They put them in body bags and rushed them away. They were certainly more than 10.”

    A woman, who identified herself as Ann, said she was in her shop nearby when the fire broke out.

    “We ran away as soon as the truck exploded. There was a bus filled with children not far from the truck. I don’t know if they managed to escape,” she said.

    House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa also condoled with the families of the victims.

    He described it as “a sad development and I share the feeling of those who lost their loved ones in this incident.

    “I pray to God to give the victims’ families the fortitude to bear the loss,” Obasa said in a condolence message signed by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS) Musbau Rasak.

     

  • Nine die in Ogun, Oyo accidents

    Five passengers died and a dozen others injured in an accident yesterday on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.

    The accident, which occurred at the Eldorado- Ayetoro village at the Mowe stretch, involved a DAF truck marked  (OYO) GNN 774 XA and a white Mazda passenger bus with registration number (LAGOS) APP 36 XA.

    It was learnt that the driver of the Mazda passenger bus coming from Lagos lost control of the wheels and rammed into the stationary DAF truck.

    An eyewitness said a nursing mother and her two children were among the five victims.

    The accident caused a traffic gridlock on the expressway.

    The Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Adegoke Adetunji and the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi said the victims comprise four males and a woman.

    Adetunji said 23 people were involved in the accident.

    The FRSC state Sector Commander noted that the bus driver violated the speed limit, wrongly overtook other vehicles, lost control and eventually crashed into the truck from the rear.

    According to him, the injured were evacuated to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) Sagamu by the TRACE officers while the remains of dead are kept at the morgue of the same hospital.

    Akinbiyi said over-speeding was responsible for the accident.

    Four persons also died in an accident on the old Ibadan -Lagos Expressway in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State.

    Eyewitnesses said the accident involved a truck with registration number Lagos LND 221 SA, a commercial motorcycle and five other vehicles.

    The FRSC Commander, Oluyole Unit, Mrs Oladayo Odeleye, said the accident occurred as a result of brake failure, leading to the death of three women and one man.

    An eyewitness, Pa Daniel Iroha, said: “I know this road is one of the oldest in the country, yet it has remained a single lane ever since. The government should help the people by dualising this road. Many have died because the road is very busy and too narrow.

    “The truck was descending with high speed when it crashed into an oncoming vehicles and a motorcycle. They said the truck driver was sleeping.” ive passengers died and a dozen others injured in an accident yesterday on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.

    The accident, which occurred at the Eldorado- Ayetoro village at the Mowe stretch, involved a DAF truck marked  (OYO) GNN 774 XA and a white Mazda passenger bus with registration number (LAGOS) APP 36 XA.

    It was learnt that the driver of the Mazda passenger bus coming from Lagos lost control of the wheels and rammed into the stationary DAF truck.

    An eyewitness said a nursing mother and her two children were among the five victims.

    The accident caused a traffic gridlock on the expressway.

    The Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Adegoke Adetunji and the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi said the victims comprise four males and a woman.

    Adetunji said 23 people were involved in the accident.

    The FRSC state Sector Commander noted that the bus driver violated the speed limit, wrongly overtook other vehicles, lost control and eventually crashed into the truck from the rear.

    According to him, the injured were evacuated to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) Sagamu by the TRACE officers while the remains of dead are kept at the morgue of the same hospital.

    Akinbiyi said over-speeding was responsible for the accident.

    Four persons also died in an accident on the old Ibadan -Lagos Expressway in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State.

    Eyewitnesses said the accident involved a truck with registration number Lagos LND 221 SA, a commercial motorcycle and five other vehicles.

    The FRSC Commander, Oluyole Unit, Mrs Oladayo Odeleye, said the accident occurred as a result of brake failure, leading to the death of three women and one man.

    An eyewitness, Pa Daniel Iroha, said: “I know this road is one of the oldest in the country, yet it has remained a single lane ever since. The government should help the people by dualising this road. Many have died because the road is very busy and too narrow.

    “The truck was descending with high speed when it crashed into an oncoming vehicles and a motorcycle. They said the truck driver was sleeping.”