The Lagos State Police Command is looking for the driver of a Nissan pickup van, which bumped into four family members and two other vehicles on New Year Day in the Ikotun area of the state before fleeing the scene.
Sylvester Aibor, an employee of the Lagos State University (LASU), whose wife and three children were knocked down by the van, lost one child, Faith, in the accident.
It was gathered that Sylvester and his family members were on their way home after attending the crossover service around 5.30am on January 1 when the driver of the van, with number plate APP 990 XQ, suddenly lost control of the vehicle and rammed two other vehicles and four members of the family, who were walking on the sidewalk.
Mr Aibor said, “Nobody saw the driver after the accident, because everywhere was dark. But my wife and three children were trapped underneath the pickup van. I would have been affected if not that I was walking in the front, while my wife and children were coming behind. If not for the help of good Samaritans, my family would not have been rescued alive.
“The passersby were the ones who assisted in lifting the first and second cars up and brought out my wife and children from underneath the van.
“Immediately they brought them out, we rushed them to the J Spring Hospital, but the medical personnel on duty asked N100,000 before attending to them. Everybody shouted at them to save the lives of my family members but they refused.
“It was a police patrol van that came to take us away from there to the Unita Hospital around 6.30am. It was at that hospital that my family was attended to and for a moment, I heaved a sigh of relief that all would be well.”
The father of three said while his wife, Eucharia; son, Odion, 23; and daughter, Favour, 20, were responding to treatment at the hospital, his 14-year-old daughter, Faith, who suddenly began gasping for breath, was rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital in Ikeja on the recommendation of the doctor.
He added that despite his being a staff member of LASU, his daughter, who was alive when they got to the emergency department of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, died because no one was available to attend to her.
Lagos police spokesperson, Chike Oti, said that investigation into the matter was ongoing.
