Truck crushes two to death on Lagos-Ibadan highway

• Bus summersaults, kills five students of Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi

An Iveco truck carrying a 40-feet container crushed a commercial motorcycle rider and his passenger to death along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway yesterday.The driver of the truck, marked APP 109 XQ lost control of the wheel while on speed, hit the road median and overturned on the highway. The truck and the container fell on the Okada rider and his passenger who were on the road at the time and crushed them to death.

The Public Relations Officer of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi, who confirmed the accident, said two persons died on the spot. Akinbiyi added that the bodies of the victims have been taken to the Fakoya mortuary in Sagamu, while the truck, driver and motorcycle are in police custody.
 
Meanwhile, pandemonium ensued at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi (FUAM) in the morning hours of yesterday after a bus conveying students of the institution summersaulted killing five of its passengers.The Guardian gathered that the incident happened at the A North Core area of the institution, close to the School of Agronomy at about 7:30a.m. The bus had a tyre burst and rammed into a motorcycle carrying two persons before summersaulting.

Two of the deceased students who were riding on the motorcycle died on the spot while many others who were in the vehicle sustained varying degrees of injury with the most severe cases transferred to the Federal Medical Center, Makurdi.

Sources at the university said the students had gone to write a test but had left their identity cards at home. They were said to be rushing home to get their identity cards after the lecturer in charge asked them to produce it before they could be allowed to write the test.

“It was in the process of going back home to bring the cards that they met their deaths,” the sources said.The ugly incident sparked off riot as aggrieved students burnt down the bus and then protested against the killings to the university authorities, where they allegedly vandalized security offices at the north and south core, even as they made away with some computers.

In reaction, the university’s management immediately ordered the closure of the school and asked the students to proceed on a mid-semester break to forestall further crisis on campus.Relaying the closure of the university via a statement signed by the Registrar and Secretary to Senate and Council, Mrs. Helen Nyitse, said the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Richard Kimbir, on behalf of Senate, had approved that the students should proceed on mid semester break with immediate effect.

The statement read in part: “By this notice, all students are expected to handover all university property in their possession and vacate the campus before 2:00p.m. today, (Wednesday 15th August) until further notice.”In a related development, a man lost his life after an articulated truck lost control and crushed 14 vehicles along the Abuja-Keffi highway on Monday night. The accident grounded traffic on the busy highway, leaving commuters stranded for hours as the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) personnel and other security operatives battled to clear the scene.

It was gathered that the crash, which occurred about 100 metres after the Karu Bridge at about 9:20p.m. affected 12 cars, one bus and two trucks.The FRSC Corps Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, attributed the auto crash to overloading and brake failure, adding that three cars left the scene with minor dents. He explained that six persons – four males and two females – were injured and taken to Nyanya General Hospital, but a male victim died at Wuse General Hospital where he was taken alongside a female victim.

According to the FRSC’s preliminary report on the accident, the brand of vehicles damaged during the accident included Toyota Camry, Mazda, Honda Acura SUV, Volkswagen Golf, Honda Accord, a Toyota Hiace bus, belonging to Peace Mass Transit, and a Leyland Daf truck.Besides FRSC operatives, Kazeem said the police and men of the Nigerian Army also participated in the rescue efforts.