Fatal Multiple Accident Along Expressway, Kills Six On The Spot - Report

 A multiple vehicle accident has been reported along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway leaving at least six people dead and causing a serious traffic congestion on the road.

 The accident occurred this morning June 27th, around the Berger/Kara axis of the expressway and was caused by a truck trying to avoid another parked on the road since last month. Security agents are currently on ground to help manage the situation. See more photos from the scene below....

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Tragic : Multiple Accident Along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, Causes Terrible Traffic

  A multiple accident has occurred this afternoon, involving a commercial bus, petroleum tanker and a trailer, causing serious vehicular lockjam on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway particularly at the Shagamu axis.

 As at the time of this report, there has been no official words on the number casualties the accident claimed, while also, Motorist are advised to use the Ofada road as it is the best alternative at the moment.

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Oshiomhole escapes death as three journalists die in auto crash

Three journalists, Olatunji Jacob and George Okosun, both of the Independent Television, and Fidelis Ohani, a  camera man of  the African Independent Television (AIT), attached to Edo State Government House,  Saturday, lost their lives while Governor Adams Oshiomhole escaped death after a tipper rammed into the governor’s convoy along Warrake  Road  in Etsako West Local Government Area of the state.

Six other journalists in the press bus and security operatives attached to the governor sustained various degrees of injuries while a photo journalist of  the state-owned Observer Newspaper, Mr David Acha, and a driver, are in coma. Unconfirmed reports said  the Chief Detail to the Governor was among those wounded.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that the tragic incident happened when Oshiomhole was on his way to Auchi after he received some decampees from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to his Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at Afuze in Owan East Local Government  Area.

A visibly shocked Oshiomhole was speechless when he was contacted.

It was learnt that Jacob was killed on the spot while the two others died after they were rushed to a private hospital in Auchi.

Consequently, the Director General of the Oshiomhole Campaign Organization and the South South Vice Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, announced the cancellation of the rally scheduled for  Saturday to kick-off the party’s governorship campaign in Edo South.

The tragic incident came barely three weeks after a  journalist attached to the Independent Television Benin City, Chuks Ogu, was shot dead by  unidentified gun men in Benin City.

According to eye witnesses, the tipper lorry,  ran into the governor’s convoy, hitting the SUV behind Oshiomhole’s car, leading to a multiple crash involving the back up vehicle, the press bus and the Hilux car carrying the Chief Press Secretary, Peter Okhiria.

As at the time of filing this report, the other journalists in the press bus had been rushed to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) .

When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Tony Iyare, said he was on his way to the hospital.

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Auto crash kills 5, injures 7 in Jigawa

Five people were killed on Thursday in an auto crash which occurred in Zango-Buji village on the Dutse-Gaya road in Dutse Local Government Area of Jigawa.

The Jigawa Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Umar Liman, who confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria, said that seven others were also injured in the accident.

He said that the accident occurred when an overloaded Mazda bus with registration number XC 307 DUT, had a tyre burst and somersaulted to the other lane.

Liman said that officers and men of the corps had taken the corpses to the Dutse General Hospital while those injured were admitted at Rasheed Shekoni Specialist Hospital also in Dutse.

According to him, those who died in the accident were four males and one female.

The sector commander warned motorists to desist from overloading their vehicles because of its consequences, stressing that the command would soon deploy a special task force to check overloading by motorists in the state. (NAN)

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Auto crash claims baby and 5 others

A 14-month-old baby and five unidentified adults on Tuesday died in a fatal auto crash which occurred at Alapako village on the Lagos- Ibadan expressway.

The Ogere Unit Commander of the FRSC, Mr Abdulrahman Sadeeq, who confirmed the incident, said four other persons were seriously injured in the crash which occurred at about 7:30 am. 

 Sadeeq told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on phone that the victims were travelling in a white Mazda bus marked Bayelsa XC 239 YEN heading to Lagos from Kano. The bus, according to him, skidded off its lane and rammed into a ditch at the village. While attributing the crash to over-speeding and dangerous driving, Sadeeq said a 12-month-old baby boy and three other male adults were injured.

 The FRSC officials said the victims were conveyed to Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital in Sagamu. He also said the FRSC would work tirelessly to ensure that the accident did not cause a gridlock on the highway.

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School bus fire tragedy latest: Death toll rises to 7

THE death toll of the school children who were burnt in an inferno in Ibadan, Oyo State on Wednesday while being conveyed to their school has risen to seven. The Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Corps Commander Godwin Ogagaoghene, who confirmed the increase in the death toll in Ibadan on Thursday, condemned the kind of school buses being used by private schools in the state.

 He said school proprietors should embrace the kind of school bus which was introduced by the FRSC, saying that it was safer. According to him, the school bus introduced by the FRSC had two exit, which made coming and going out easy for school children. The FRSC boss also asked school proprietors to look for qualified drivers to handle their school buses. 

 He also stressed the need for vehicle owners to always have fire extinguishers in their vehicles, saying that if the school bus had fire extinguisher and the driver trained, he would have applied it before the fire got out of hand. The deceased were among 20 pupils being conveyed to their school, Divine Wisdom Group of Schools, Ibadan, Oyo State, when the school bus was gutted by fire, few metres to the school. 

 Also, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Olabisi Okuwobi, confirmed that death toll had risen. It will be recalled that 13 pupils of the school, located at Amosu area in Lagelu Local Government Area of the state were rushed to the emergency unit of the University College Hospital (UCH), after the Ford bus conveying them suddenly caught fire on Wednesday. 

 While some of the pupils, aged between five and 11, were rushed to different private hospitals around Iyana Church area, where the incident happened, 13 others were rushed to the UCH, due to the severity of the burns and were placed on oxygen.

 When the Nigerian Tribune visited the emergency unit of the UCH, seven of the school children had been confirmed dead by the hospital management. Parents of the victims, relatives, as well as sympathisers were seen at the hospital monitoring the kids, while others turned the hospital into a mini-church of sorts, praying for the recovery of the children.

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Ten die in Ogun auto crash

Atleast ten people died in a fatal accident that occurred ,yesterday, in Isara, Saapade, Remo North Local Government Area of Ogun state while eight people were seriously injured.

The accident occurred two days after a truck killed four passengers in Abule Olokuta near Ilaro, in Yewa South Local Government Area of the state.

The accident, according to an eye-witness, involved a Lagos bound 18-seater commercial bus with registartion number , Kebbi AA 189 AUG, fully loaded with passengers ,who were coming from Kebbi state.

The eye-witness, said that, the accident occurred when the bus rammed into a stationary articulated truck, popularly known as trailer with registration number, Lagos XV 512 EKY near Isara.

Confirming the accident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the Commissioner of Police, Nicholas Nkedeme, had visited the accident scene and confirmed the death of ten people.

Adejobi through an SMS message, stated that, the injured passengers have been admited at Olabisi Onabanjo Univeristy Teaching Hospital, OOUTH.

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18 killed in Anambra truck accident

Eighteen people were crushed to death yesterday at the foot of the Niger Bridge in Onitsha, Anambra State.

A truck loaded with two 40 feet containers lost control and fell on passersby.

According to eyewitnesses, the accident occurred at about 6am, when some officials allegedly collecting emblem fees for the government attempted to forcefully stop the truck coming from Asaba.

The driver reportedly lost control and ran into other oncoming vehicles.

The activities of the emblem officials, who work throughout the night, had resulted in several accidents around the bridge.

The accident involved seven vehicles. Four were commercial buses and three private vehicles.

The four buses with registration numbers, XA 556 BUR, XD 566 ABN, XA 893 ACA and AWK 526 XA, were destroyed with many passengers crushed.

A survivor, Mrs. Rose Iwuno, said the accident was avoidable.

Mrs. Iwuno said if the officials had not accosted the truck driver, the accident would not have happened.

She said: “We were going to Asaba through the other lane but suddenly our driver noticed that the driver of the truck had lost control.

“Our driver tried to escape but it was late, other vehicles were on both sides and even behind us.

“I passed out but what I could remember was a heavy sound which was when one of the containers from the truck fell off and crushed a bus in front of us before rolling towards our bus.

“The truck skidded off the road, rammed into one of the heavy pillars at the bridgehead and somersaulted.

“The number of casualties I cannot count but all I can tell you is that you see that bus that was smashed, I don’t think that anybody will come out of it alive.

“The containers were heavy and there were no Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) officials to help.

“The casualties will be up to 20,” she said.

It was gathered that though the accident took place in front of the FRSC Onitsha Unit Command, there was no respite for the victims as there was no equipment to lift the containers off.

The incident took another dimension when an angry mob went on the rampage and set ablaze the make-shift office of the emblem collectors.

It took the intervention of sympathisers and workers of the Consolidated Construction Company (CCC) who brought their heavy equipment to lift the container.

The dismembered bodies were evacuated to an undisclosed mortuary; the injured were rushed to various hospitals.

FRSC Unit Commander Fredrick Oko said he was still collating the number of casualties. He said the number of casualties may not be more than two.

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