Report by Mudasir Opeyemi
A yet-to-be-identified bus driver has been killed in a road accident on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway by PM Filling Station, Cele, inward Mile 2, Lagos State.
LASEMA Permanent Secretary, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu provided an update in a statement.
The accident, which occurred on Thursday around 1pm, involved an unregistered 40ft containerised truck, a commercial vehicle with number plate AKD 489XZ; a Highlander SUV with registration number AGL 366 FP; and a Toyota RAV4 with number plate AAA 353 FH.
Oke-Osanyintolu said the truck driver lost control and collided with the vehicles ahead of it.
While occupants of the two SUVs and passengers on the bus survived though with varying degrees of injury, the bus driver was crushed under the weight of the container.
“An adult male, the bus driver, lost his life while four injured victims three males and one female have been transported to hospital,” he said.
Osanyintolu also confirmed that the body of the deceased was handed over to the relatives for burial.
“The crash caused gridlock along the axis as emergency responders and passersby collaborated to clear the scene,” the statement added
Also confirming the incident,the spokesperson for the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Taofeek Adebayo, said the passengers suffered
varying degrees of injury.
“The driver died immediately while several passengers(three males and one female) suffered varying degrees of injury. Immediately the accident happened, we never knew how the family of the driver got to know but they didn’t let the police take his corpse. They took the corpse away. Officials of the Lagos State Emergency Ambulance Service were on ground; they took care of those who sustained injuries and took them to a nearby government hospital for further treatment,” he said
An eyewitness,who spoke on a condition of anonymity said the commercial driver drove against traffic.
“The accident caused gridlock, I had to trek. It’s a three-lane road; those going to Cele take the third lane. The commercial bus took a one-way route, so it faced the truck and two SUVs that were coming ahead.
“The truck driver was trying to link the road leading to Ago Palace Way, but the road is bad, so in trying to manoeuvre, the container fell on the commercial bus and badly damaged the two SUVs.
“No one was injured in the SUVs and the passengers on the bus came out unhurt; the driver of the bus was stuck under the container.
“Sympathisers called some workers to pull him out but the container fell again with more impact, killing the driver. When the container first fell, the driver was still alive and was crying, but it was the impact of the container falling deeper that killed him. They had to cover him with one of those black bags; there was much blood on the road.
“The roads were being fixed and vehicles weren’t supposed to pass there. It was an unfortunate incident,” the eyewitness narrated
The owner of the bus who identified himself as Obi Emeka said yesterday (Thursday) was the first day that the deceased would resume work as a commercial bus driver.
“I gave him this bus to drive last week but he couldn’t start because we were working on some papers and finally resumed work today (Thursday).
“I was in the office when they called me that trailer hit my vehicle. So,the container fell on the bus and the driver was shouting, crying for help; in the process,the container finally fall and crushed him to death.
The deceased brother who identified himself as Taiye also identified the victim as Taye adding that they were of the same blood(Same father,same mother)
He said he was at work when someone called him on phone to break the sad news for him.
“He’s my elder brother and we stayed together. His name is Taye popularly known as ‘Alaanu’. He was a very popular person and he doesn’t fight with anyone. He’s married with children.”