No less than 14 passengers including three children have been burnt to death in a fatal auto crash along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Thursday night, The PUNCH reports.
Three others sustained injuries and had been taken to hospitals for treatment.
It was learnt that the accident happened around 10.20pm on Thursday at the Long Bridge axis of the expressway, Ogun State, inwards Lagos.
The accident involved a silver Toyota RAV 4, the number plate, LND 13 GS, a Toyota Camry, marked GGE 369 GJ and a burnt Mazda bus with an unidentified number plate.
It was gathered that the burnt commercial bus was involved in a wrongful overtaking before it hit a stationary faulty vehicle, the Toyota Rav 4, in the middle of the road.
The spokesperson for the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, Babatunde Akinbiyi, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
Akinbiyi said many occupants of the bus were burnt beyond recognition, saying three of them sustained burns.
He said TRACE operatives, policemen and officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps rescued two victims to the Lagos State Accident and Emergency Centre, Tollgate, and one other to the General Hospital, Gbagada.
He said, “In all, 17 passengers were on the bus when the crash happened with three seriously injured and 14, among which were three children, burnt beyond recognition.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the burnt commercial bus was involved in wrongful overtaking before it hit a stationary vehicle (Toyota Rave 4) parked in the middle of the road due to breakdown.
“In the process, it lost control and somersaulted before it burst into flames. As of now, it can’t be ascertained if the Mazda bus was fully loaded, but carcass of burnt bodies beyond recognition was noticed at the accident scene.
“While TRACE Corps commiserates with the family of the dead victims, drivers are again warned to desist from speeding, wrongful overtaking and overbearing cum nonchalant attitude that expose other road users to risk and danger.”
