Seven passengers burn to death, 11 injured along Lagos-Ibadan express way

An eighteen seater bus was during the weekend involved in a fatal fire accident, killing seven people, including a pregnant woman and a baby, at Kara, along Lagos/Ibadan expressway.

The unfortunate incident occurred at about 3.30pm as the vehicle reportedly went ablaze.

According to eyewitnesses, the commercial bus which took off from Lagos suddenly started leaking fuel which spilled its contents. One of the passengers was said to have noticed a spark from the engine and raised the alarm immediately.

The driver was said to had pulled over so he could check the cause of the alleged spark, but few minutes after take off, fire gutted the entire car.

Other eyewitnesses said passengers tried to scamper for safety as soon as the vehicle got to a halt, but it was rather too late as the fire had jammed all vehicle’s doors. They said before help could come, seven of the passengers, including a pregnant woman and a baby were burnt beyond recognition, while eleven others sustained varying degrees of injuries.

DailyPost gathered that the Ogun state fire fighters were called by some onlookers, but failed to come to the scene until the situation got bad.

Meanwhile, some five officials of Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, TRACE including the Akute Head of Operations and an unspecified number of traffic police men were injured by hoodlums at the scene. They were said to have rushed to the scene but were prevented from rendering any assistance as hoodlums descended on them, venting their anger.

An eye witness said the traffic Police around the axis were not spared as many of them were injured by the hoodlums. A distress call was later put across to both the Rapid Response Squad RRS, in Lagos and Quick Response Squad from Mowe axis, who eventually put the situation under control.

The dead bodies and the injured persons were said to have been taken to Ogun State University Teaching Hospital, OSUTH, Sagamu.

Babatunde Akinbiyi, TRACE Public Relations Officer confirmed the development. he said the officials arrived the scene as soon as they received a distress call but lamented that the miscreants threw caution to the wind, causing further damage on the busy expressway.

The incident was said to have caused a terrible traffic jam which lasted for a very long time on the expressway.

SOURCE: DAILY POST

---

If you enjoyed this post please share with your friends using any of the social networks below. Thank you.