Six persons, including a woman, a Danfo driver and his conductor, were killed in two road crashes in Lagos at the weekend.
Five of them were killed yesterday when a driver believed to be drunk rammed into an 18-seater commercial bus marked KRE 302 XA at the first Lekki Toll Gate. Fourteen were injured.
The sixth victim was killed at Apongbon, Lagos Island, when he alighted from his car to help an accident victim.
It was gathered that the driver, who was in a Lexus GX470 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) marked KJA615DF, belonging to Triple D Global Resources Limited, was returning from a night club. He was said to be driving against traffic.
According to witnesses, the Lexus and the bus tumbled, killing two persons on the spot. Sixteen, including the bus conductor, sustained serious injuries. Three of them, including the conductor died in the hospital, where they were rushed to.
The Lexus driver is said to be unconscious.
The legs of the bus driver whose name was given as Sarafa aka Baba Ikimo were shattered and parts of his flesh still littered the scene hours after the accident.
There were bloodstains at toll gate lane where the accident occurred. The lane has since been cordoned off. But an official at the toll gate said it would be reopened tomorrow (today).
A witnesses said the Lexus driver hit some vehicles, including a police van, at the Nigerian Law School bus stop, and was speeding away to escape.
Some hard drugs, a pair of scissors and empty bottles of alcoholic driks were said to have been found during a search of his vehicle.
A bus conductor at CMS bus stop, who refused to be named, said the late bus driver, who was fondly called Iso, was married and had kids. His body has been taken to his village in Oyo State for burial.
The conductor said the bus was coming from Lakowe in Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Area of the state to CMS.
“If the road was not free or if it was much later in the day that the accident happened, the damage would not have been this much. I learnt a lot of people died and others that did not die sustained serious injuries. Some broke their hands, legs and other body parts. I wonder what came over the jeep driver to moved against traffic,” he said.
An official at the toll gate, who also refused to be named, said the driver was obviously drunk.
“I was not here when the accident happened but from the information I got from my colleagues, the driver of the jeep was drunk. They saw empty bottles of alcoholic drinks inside his car. The road is big enough for all cars to move freely and conveniently, it is only a drunk man that would have left his lane to another lane as wide as this road is,” he said.
Another bus conductor who simply identified himself as Baba Shola, described the accident as unfortunate.
The Apongbon happened on Saturday night when the motorist went to the aid of another motorist, who collided with a trailer.
The injured motorist was said to have been trapped in his Honda vehicle marked APP304DV and the other motorist parked his BMWX5 (KSF339BK) to assist him.
A commercial bus marked BDG68XH also stopped to help the victim.
While helping the driver off his car, an oncoming vehicle ran them over and sped away.
The BMW X5 driver died on the spot; the trapped victim and the bus driver were injured.
Among first responders at the scene of the Lekki accident were the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Response Unit, Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), Rapid Response Squad (RRS), the police, State Environmental Monitoring Unit (SEHMU) and Lekki Concession Company (LCC) officials. They managed traffic, controlled the crowd and gave medical care to the victims, who were later moved to the General Hospital at Marina and the Trauma Centre at the old Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Toll Gate.
LASEMA light tow truck removed the vehicles from the scene and handed them over to LCC officials, who moved them to the police station.
LASEMA General Manager Adesina Tiamiyu, said the injured were moved to the Trauma Centre and the Marina General Hospital.
He said the agency was alerted around 6.49am to the toll gate accident, adding :“Investigation carried out by the agency’s response team on getting to the scene revealed that a Lexus Jeep GX470 marked KJA-615DF plying one way rammed into a commercial bus (KRE-302XA) that was just cleared by the ticketing officers at the toll gate.
“A total of four fatalities was recorded which includes three males and a female. 16 casualties with severe injuries were recorded including four females and 12 males. The driver of the jeep was taken to the General Hospital at Marina.
“Our men and other stakeholders had to ensure free flow of traffic. They had to control crowd, assisted injured victims with first aid before moving them to the hospital.
“We are not happy when there are avoidable losses of lives. The Lekki accident could have been avoided if the driver had stayed back at the place he went to.
“For the Apongbon accident, operatives of the agency were at the scene to ensure traffic management to avoid secondary accident. The affected vehicles were recovered and towed to Ebute Ero Police Station.
“We have said it many times that people should not drive when they drink. I can assure you that these accidents would be thoroughly investigated and appropriate actions taken.
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