Seven passengers sustained varying degrees of injuries on Christmas Eve when the bus they were travelling in somersaulted due to a tyre burst around the Eledumare area of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State.

The accident involved a Toyota Bus with an unknown registration number.

Spokesperson of the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps(TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi, confirmed this to newsmen in a statement in Abeokuta on Thursday.

Akinbiyi said that operatives of the TRACE and Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC) were on the ground to rescue the injured victims.

He said that the cause of the crash was that one of the bus’s tyres burst on the move, and the vehicle veered off the road, somersaulting into a nearby bush.

The TRACE Public Relations Officer (PRO) said the injured victims had been taken to Victory Hospital.

He noted that the accident bus has been towed to the Police Station in Isara-Remo for further investigation.

Akinbiyi added that traffic was not affected during the rescue operation and that it flowed freely on the road.

In other news, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has announced a fatal tanker explosion involving a Mack Truck conveying diesel, which occurred in the early hours of today at the Oto-Ijanikin axis, in the vicinity of the Lagos State University of Education (LASUED), inward Agbara, along the Badagry Expressway, Lagos.

Preliminary findings from security investigations indicate that the unfortunate incident was caused by excessive speed, as the tanker driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle while attempting to overtake another road user. The vehicle subsequently crashed and erupted into a raging inferno, tragically trapping and claiming the lives of the driver and an adult female occupant.

LASTMA personnel who were actively monitoring vehicular movement within the corridor secured and cordoned off the affected stretch of the expressway to forestall secondary incidents, while immediately notifying the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service (Ojo Unit), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Ijanikin Police Division for urgent emergency response and security reinforcement.

The LASTMA operatives prevented members of the public who had converged on the scene with containers from scooping the spilt diesel. This timely intervention effectively averted a potential escalation of the tragedy before the arrival of other emergency and security agencies.

Following the successful containment of the blaze and clearance by relevant authorities, the severely burnt tanker was evacuated from the expressway by LASTMA personnel to prevent further road mishaps along the busy transport corridor, while FRSC removed the remains of burnt bodies. (The Guardian)

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