Five feared dead, many injured in Lagos accident

Five members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God  (RCCG), returning from the monthly Holy Ghost night vigil, at Redemption Camp, Lagos; were yesterday morning crushed to death by two containers in what many described as “bloody accident”.

In the accident, which occurred around 3.am by the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) terminal at Ojota, Ikorodu Road, the victims were inside a commercial bus, belonging to one Charles, said to be a pastor.

Three other occupants of the bus that were trapped, were rescued alive by officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the police, even as the truck was said to have experienced deflated tyres and tumbled on the bus, as it tried to navigate a narrow path.

Eyewitnesses said the containers, laden with logs of wood, flattened the bus to the ground, such that some of the victims’ heads, body parts were dismembered, while the driver fled the scene as soon as the accident occurred.

The motor boy was however, apprehended and handed over to the police, just as hoodlums attempted to seize the opportunity to rob rescue workers, who arrived the scene by 4.am.
They were however chased away by the police and NSCDC operatives to allow the rescuers do their jobs.

When The Guardian visited the scene around 6.am, LASEMA cranes and other equipment were on ground to lift the containers off the smashed bus, even as the barricades demarcating the BRT lane was broken to provide way for the heavy duty equipment to access the spot.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Fatai Owoseni, who was at the scene, confirmed that five persons were killed and three rescued alive, saying it was time people started obeying traffic laws, since according to him, aside the truck’s bad tyres, it lacked capacity to carry the containers.

He said: “Looking at the state of this truck, you could tell that it cannot support the weight of the logs of wood in the container. We are going to go all out to ensure that people do not break rules and go free.

“We will spare nothing to arrest the driver of this truck. Even the truck owner, under the Lagos State Traffic Rules, has some questions to answer. We would focus attention more on people conforming to the law.

“We also use this opportunity to urged members of the public, who suspect that their relatives could be among the victims to come to Alausa Police Station for identification.”
General Manager LASEMA, Adesina Tiamiyu, decried the spate of accidents caused by tankers, recalling how a similar one was recorded at the same spot three weeks ago.