About 30 passengers comprised only of men met their tragic end on Sunday, February 7, 2016 after the trailer carrying them tumbled in the Adeosun area of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Over 50 persons sustained different degrees of injuries while two rams were killed following the tragedy that occurred at about 7am.
One of the victims identified only as Mohammed, who lost two relatives, wept profusely as he covered them with clothes.
One of the survivors of the accident, who gave his name as Mohammed Seripino, they were travelling from Kaduna State.
He said: “We are all Hausa. We were coming from Kaduna. Each passenger paid N1,000. This (accident) is not good.”
An eyewitness, who gave his name as Yinka Dada, told Punch that he was seeing off his son, who was on his way to Lagos, when the accident occurred.
He said, “I saw everything. I was by the roadside when the accident occurred. I was with my son who was going to Lagos when I saw two vehicles speeding as if they were competing in a race.
“The other vehicle was able to control the wheel, while the driver of the trailer lost control, tumbled down the expressway, and spilled out the passengers one after another.”
A police patrol van arrived the scene later and those who sustained minor injuries helped others whose cases were severe into the police van.
An Electrical Engineering student of the Abdul Gusau Polytechnic, Zamfara, who preferred anonymity blamed the government for the poor response of rescue officials.
He said: “Our leaders have embezzled all the money that should be used to put infrastructure in place. This is why people are dying like rats.”
A middle-aged man, Onyekachi Otuonye, lamented rescuers’ response time to the accident.
Otuonye said, “This is deplorable. Even slaves should not be treated like this. Human lives should be treated with respect and dignity.”
The Federal Road Safety Corps, however, placed the death toll at 17, adding that 79 persons sustained injuries.
Furthermore, the Oyo State Sector Commander, FRSC, Yusuf Salami, said the accident involved an articulated vehicle and a Peugeot J5 vehicle.
He explained that both vehicles were travelling to Lagos, adding that the accident was caused by impatience, speeding and struggle for right of way.
He said, “A Peugeot J5 with number plate, XS 626 LSV, and a DAF articulated vehicle with number plate, AA 902 MML, had an accident as both drivers were struggling for the right of the way. They were both going to Lagos when the accident happened around 9.30am on Sunday. It happened just before the campus of the Dominion University in Sepo, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
“There were 96 people involved, with 17 confirmed dead. It is obvious that both drivers were speeding and suddenly lost control of the vehicles. The Peugeot bus was loaded with passengers and goods, but the casualty figure rose because the other vehicle was travelling to Lagos with huge number of illegal passengers.”
