No fewer than seven people, including a pregnant woman and a baby, were over the weekend burnt to death in an accident that took place at Kara, along Lagos/Ibadan expressway.
In addition, about five officials of Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency TRACE, and an unspecified number of traffic police sustained severe bodily injuries in an attack by unknown assailants after the tragic incident.
It was learnt that the accident which involved an 18-seat commercial bus, occurred at about 3.30pm as the vehicle, which took off in Lagos reportedly went up flames after the fuel tank leaked some fuel.
According to Vanguard reports, one of the passengers was said to have noticed a spark from the engine and raised the alarm which made the driver to stop abruptly in order to check the cause of the incident.
A source who witnessed the tragic incident disclosed that the efforts made by the passengers to escape the fire all proved abortive as the force from the inferno had jammed the door.
Seven out of the 18 occupants of the bus were roasted to death, including a pregnant woman and a baby, while eleven others sustained different sorts of wounds in the accident which caused serious gridlock in the area for some time.
Although some concerned people had alerted the fire fighters in Ogun State, unfortunately, they were nowhere to be seen until the situation got out of hand.
However, it was gathered that some operatives of the TRACE arrived the scene of the event but were interrupted f by the aggrieved assailants who unleashed terror on them which led to the assault of five officials,including the Akute Head of Operations and the traffic Police in the area.
The timely intervention of the Rapid Response Squad RRS, in Lagos and a Squad from Mowe axis, helped to stabilize the situation.
Confirming the incident, the TRACE Public Relations Officer Babatunde Akinbiyi, said the officials arrived the scene as soon as they received a distress call regretting that the hoodlums made things get out of hand by stopping them from taking immediate actions to calm the situation.
Meanwhile, the bodies and the injured persons were said to have be taken to Ogun State University Teaching Hospital OSUTH, Sagamu.
