Two separate accidents that occurred on Sunday, the Eid-il-fitr day, in Ogijo, Ogun State and Maryland area of Lagos State, have left two people dead and 11 others injured.
TheNigerian Metro learnt in a telephone conversation with the spokesperson for the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, Babatunde Akinbiyi, that the Ogijo accident occurred around 6 am on Sunday.
According to Akinbiyi, the accident occurred when a truck had a tyre burst and collided with a Mazda passenger bus, killing one person and injuring 11.
Akinbiyi noted that the victims were rescued at a nearby hospital by emergency responders for medical attention.
He said, “A fatal accident occurred at Five Star area in Ogijo at about 6:15hrs on Sunday. It involved a six-tyre truck with registration number GBE 243 XB and a Mazda bus with registration number KSF 542 YG.
“Thirteen people were involved in the accident including two persons in the truck and 11 persons in the Mazda bus. One person was recorded dead while 11 persons were injured.
“According to the truck driver, the accident was caused by his truck due to a sudden burst of his front right tyre that led the truck to lose control and hit a stationed 18-seater Mazda bus that was picking passengers from the rear.”
He concluded that the accident led to traffic build-up in the rear, but the situation was brought under control by the emergency responders comprising of TRACE, police and Federal Road Safety Corps officials.
In a similar accident, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Adebayo Taofiq, disclosed that an accident involving two mini-buses along the Maryland axis left a pedestrian dead.
Taofiq noted that a mini-bus veered off the road due to speeding and rammed into another mini-bus and a pedestrian who was waiting to board a bus.
He said, “The fatal collision involved two Suzuki mini commercial buses (Korope) bearing registration numbers EPE 279 YJ and BDG 558 YG.
“Preliminary inquiries indicate that one of the vehicles, owing to reckless over-speeding, veered out of control and violently rammed into a stationary mini-bus before mercilessly mowing down the unsuspecting pedestrian.”
Taofiq noted that emergency responders ,including LASTMA officials and officials of the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit “undertook the dignified evacuation of the deceased’s remains to the General Hospital, Ikeja.”
Reacting to the accident, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa, extended condolences to the deceased’s family.
Giwa who spoke through Taofiq, stressed the need for drivers to conduct routine maintenance of their vehicle to prevent avoidable crashes and loss of life.
“Ensuring road safety is a collective responsibility. Indiscriminate speeding and flagrant disregard for traffic laws constitute an existential threat to public safety. I implore all motorists to strictly operate within legal parameters to avert needless loss of human lives,” he stated.
