Thousands Stranded In Ota As Trucks Collide

By Eromosele Ebhomele

Thousands of commuters were Monday morning stranded at the Ota area of Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria, when a truck on its way to one of the companies located in the area collided with another heavily loaded truck belonging to the Seven-Up company.

The truck belonging to the Seven-Up company emptied a major part of its contents at the Obasanjo Bus stop scene of the incident which is also close to Onipanu Police Station.

It was learnt that the driver of the truck belonging to 7Up, which had been towed away at the time of this report, was attempting to turn into the opposite side of the dualised Sango-Idiroko Expressway when the other truck which was on high speed collided with it.

The road links several communities in the area.

An official of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) at the scene of the incident explained that there was no casualty but that the victims of the accident sustained serious injuries and have been rushed to the General Hospital just beside the scene of the incident.

At the hospital, our reporter was prevented from seeing the victims, but a medical personnel who confirmed it said their cases were serious and that they were at the emergency ward of the hospital.

“The incident occurred very early this morning. The victims are in the emergency ward. There are three very serious ones,” the source at the hospital said.

An eye-witness at the scene of the incident explained that the truck belonging to the 7Up company had almost completed turning at the bus stop when the other truck crashed into it.

“The issue had to do with impatience on the part of the other truck driver,” a resident of the area who gave his name as Emeka Nkwocha, explained.

According to him, the truck which hit the one carrying soft drinks was on high speed from the Sango-Under Bridge end of the area.

“He tried to apply the brakes but it was too late since he was already too close to the truck conveying soft drinks,” he added.

Many residents had to trek from the scene of the incident to get vehicles as most of the vehicles plying the route got stuck.

The traffic jam stretched from the scene to the Joju roundabout on one side, and from the scene to the Estate Bus Stop end on the other side.

Commuter buses and commercial motorcyclists also increased fares in the area by between 50 per cent and 100 per cent.

At the time of this report, officials of the FRSC and the Ogun state traffic control agency were trying to move the other truck from the road and clear the broken bottles.