Picture credit: TheNews
No fewer than 12 persons lost their lives in an accident involving a truck and a commercial bus at Ilishan Remo/Sagamu Junction of Sagamu/Benin Expressway on Friday in Ogun State.
Most of the victims were students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye in Ogun State.
Abdullahi Lawal, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Sagamu Unit Commander, who confirmed the accident, told the News Agency of Nigeria that 15 persons were involved in the accident.
According to Lawal, while 12 of them died, three were seriously injured.
He said: “We went to the scene and met the crash, which involved a truck carrying a container and a commercial bus.
“Three of them were rescued and taken to the hospital.
“The remaining 12 were killed.
“We could not find the driver of the truck.
“We assumed that they ran off when the accident happened.
“Eyewitnesses said the truck was driving against traffic.
“It happened in Ijebu Ode/Sagamu side of the road
“We recovered the manifest of the vehicle.
“We discovered that the vehicle loaded from Ago-Iwoye and was heading to Sango Ota.
“All the recovered items, including the original copy of the manifest, are with the police.”
The commander said the corpses were deposited at Fakoya Mortuary in Sagamu while the injured were taken to Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu.
In an interview with TheNews shortly after the accident, the Ijebu Sector Commander of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Tommy Hamzat, “I was coming from Sagamu side and saw the accident. I had to hurriedly park my car, run there to see if the passengers could be rescued but unfortunately all the occupants were dead, including the driver.
“The bus was facing Lagos, though I don’t know where it was coming from. The container truck with no load on it was coming from Sagamu side but was driving against the traffic and that resulted in the collision, which eventually claimed the lives of the innocent people.”
