The driver of a Lagos State Government staff bus has been blamed by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency and the Nigerian Railway Corporation for a fatal train accident that killed no fewer than six people and injured 96 in the PWD area of the state on Thursday.
Africa Today News, New York reports that tragedy struck in Lagos a few minutes before 8am on Thursday when a passenger train collided with a fully-loaded staff bus belonging to the Lagos State Government at the PWD rail crossing, off the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
Giving reasons for the deadly crash, the Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, told journalists that the bus driver ignored signals from the NRC officials as he was in a hurry to cross the rail.
Also, the NRC, in a statement by its Deputy Director Public Relations, Yakub Mahmood, said the bus failed to obey the instruction of the corporation officials as he overtook other vehicles waiting for the train to pass.
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In the meantime, the Federal Government has ordered an investigation into the accident.
The ill-fated bus with registration no 04A- 48LA was navigating its way to connect the Government Residential Area, Ikeja en route to the state secretariat, Alausa, when it collided with the train at the PWD rail crossing.
The bus was said to be coming from Isolo while the train was heading to Ido from Ijoko, Ogun State.
According to eyewitnesses, the train dragged the bus on its rail for about 100 metres from PWD to Sogunle before getting stuck.
Some panic-stricken passengers of the bus, especially those close to the exit doors, reportedly made frantic efforts to jump off the bus being dragged by the train.
By the time the train and the bus finally stopped on the rail, the bus passengers fell upon one another in their attempts to find their way out of the trapped vehicle.
Two passengers were said to have died on the spot while others sustained various degrees of injuries.
Rescue workers who were mobilised to the scene evacuated the victims and rushed them to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that rescuers started taking victims to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja at 8.30am.
The Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, in an exclusive interview with reporters, said the teaching hospital admitted 102 victims of the crash.
Fabamwo, who described the experience as overwhelming, said the hospital received 85 victims at once.
He revealed that the health facility embarked on open space treatment also known as triage, which he said is the world’s best practice in emergencies.