2 Die As Five Trucks Crash

Tragedy struck at Ibafo, Ogun State this morning, as five trucks crashed, leaving a diesel tanker driver and his assistant dead.

The incident occurred at about 6 a.m today when the diesel tanker with registration number XK 583 KJA, hit a stationary petrol tanker that had earlier been involved in a minor accident late last night.

Speaking with P.M.NEWS at the scene of the accident this morning, the driver of one of the affected trucks, Robert Igedo, blamed the deceased diesel tanker driver for the accident.

According to him, if the diesel tanker was not on a high speed, “he wouldn’t have collided with our own stationary trucks that were involved in a minor accident yesterday.”

Robert explained that “I was in this usual traffic in Ibafo yesterday when a petrol tanker hit me from the rear, while my own tanker hit another truck loaded with iron rods in front.

“Immediately this happened, we discovered that the petrol tanker was spilling its contents from one side, so we promptly alerted police and traffic men from Ibafo who came to control the traffic.

“We could not remove the vehicles yesterday because there could be a spark if we tried to do so. And the plan was to remove them this morning after the arrival of fire service men, but unfortunately, the diesel tanker, which was on a high speed, hit the petrol tanker and there was an explosion.”

The diesel tanker driver and his assistant died as they were trapped by the fire inside their truck.

As at the time of filing this report, the incident had caused a heavy to a traffic gridlock along the Lagos/Ibadan expressway. Officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, and other law enforcement agencies were already at the scene trying to ease the traffic.

In another incident, a bus belonging to Cornerstone School, Ajah, was reportedly involved in a multiple crash along with three SUVs and other vehicles this morning, resulting in several casualties who are pupils of the school.

As at press time, it could not be ascertained the number of victims involved in the accident. Eyewitnesses said the Cornerstone School bus somersaulted several times and fell into a ditch, trapping its occupants, including expatriate staff.

—Kola Aliu