18 burnt to death on Sagamu/Benin expressway

No fewer than 18 persons were on Monday burnt to death in a lone accident involving a white Toyota Hiace bus around RCC yard, along Ijebu-Ode/Benin expressway.

The accident which occurred at about 3:30 pm, left the driver critically injured.

It was gathered that the bus had gone up in flame after it entered into some failed section of the road with the keg of petrol inside the bus falling and pouring on the exhaust pipe of the vehicle.

Spokesperson of Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.

Akinbiyi said, “the cause of the crash according to eye witness account which was corroborated by the driver was that, there was keg full of PMS inside the bus which fell on its side when the vehicle got to failed portion of the road.

“The PMS poured on the floor of the bus and later dropped on the exhaust pipe and caused the vehicle to catch fire on transit”.

Akinbiyi added that the injured driver had been taken to Rona Hospital for medical care while the corpses of the dead were deposited at the State Hospital, Ijebu Ode.

While commiserating with families of the accident victims, Akinbiyi urged drivers to desist from carrying petrol in their vehicles due to the attendant risk involved.

Similarly, a Mazda bus with registration No JGB 330 ZT was equally said to have also crashed around Ita Osu at about 6:45 pm on Monday along Abeokuta-Siun-Sagamu expressway leaving seven people injured.

The accident was blamed on excessive speeding and tyre burst after which the vehicle somersaulted.

The injured were reportedly rescued at State Hospital, Ijaye Abeokuta.(Vanguard)