Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Crash Claims 4 Lives

By Ganiyat Ganiyu

Mowe, (An24) – At least four persons were on Monday, May 1, burnt to death after an 18-passenger commercial bus went up in flames at Mowe, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Ogun State.

Four of the paassengers were burnt to death while about 12 other passengers sustained injuries.

The bus, belonging to Agofure Motors had taken off from Lagos State, Punch gathered.

The driver of an Iveco truck  en route to Lagos was trying to avoid hitting another vehicle and in the process, the truck ran into the median and veered to the other side of the road.

It reportedly rammed into the oncoming bus, which sparked off a fire. While the bus was completely burnt, part of the truck was affected by the fire.

The emergency officials, together with men of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mowe unit and some policemen recovered four dead bodies from the bus, while 12 persons were rescued with burns.

An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the injured were rushed to the RCCG Hospital and the Lagos State Accident and Emergency Centre, Tollgate, Lagos, for treatment.

He said, “The corpses of the four passengers have been deposited in a morgue and the fire has been put out by the RCCG firefighters. We have called the management of Agofure Motors to come with the manifest of the occupants so that we can identify the victims.”

“The wreckage has been cleared from the road for free flow of the traffic. The truck driver had fled before the police arrived at the scene. The truck was heading for Lagos while the bus was travelling from the state,” another official added.

The Ogun State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Clement Oladele, confirmed the deaths, adding that security agents had launched a manhunt for the fleeing driver.

He said, “We received a distress call at about 7.30am that there was an accident at the ASCON end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway involving an IVECO truck, with number plate, NSR 213 ZD, and a Toyota bus of Agofure Motors, marked, LND 991 XN.

“Nineteen persons were involved in the crash, which also resulted in fire. Four persons were fatally burnt, while 12 persons were injured.”