Two persons were confirmed dead and one other injured when a train hit a commercial bus at Pen Cinema railway crossing in Lagos State on Friday.
General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Adesina Tiamiyu, said the agency received a distress call at about 8:57 am.
Mr Tiamiyu said that the call was pertaining to a passenger train that hit a parked commercial bus.
He said that the accident forced three of the hanging passengers to fell off the moving train.
”Unfortunately, two adult male lost their lives and were taken to the mortuary by the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SHEMU).
”One adult sustained injuries and was transferred to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH),” the LASEMA boss said.
He said that other agencies that responded at the scene of the accident include the Nigeria Police force (Railway Police Division), the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA).
Others are the Civil Defence Corps, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), LASG Taskforce, Lagos State Fire Service (AGEGE Division), Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) OPS, MESA and the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO).
Tiamiyu urged passengers to abide by the overall safety measures put in place before boarding a train.
He also urged residents to desist from hanging on a moving train to avoid unnecessary loss of lives in the state.
An eyewitness, Raji Oladimeji, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the accident occurred when the bus driver was trying to make U-turn on the rail line.
“We warned the driver not to make U-turn at that particular point when a train was approaching but he refused.
“So, it was in the process of making the turn that the approaching train crushed the bus where people hanging on the train fell off and three die instantly while other sustained various injuries,” Mr Oladimeji said.
He said some youths set the bus ablaze in anger while the injured were taken to a nearby hospital.
Lagos District Manager, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Jerry Oche, who confirmed the incident, said the accident happened at 9.30 a.m.
“We were informed that a bus was trying to make a U-turn at the railway line this morning at Agege Pen Cinema area when a moving train crushed it in the process.
“The police are on top of the incident bringing the situation to normalcy as youths went on rampage over the death of people who lost their lives in the accident.
“The information given to us by the police was that a number of people hanging on the train were affected where two people died while many others sustained injuries,” he said.
Public Information Officer, National Emergency Management Authority, Lagos Office, Ibrahim Farinloye, also confirmed that the injured were taken to LASUTH.
