'Disaster' Many burnt to death as bus catches fire on Lagos-Ibadan highway

An unconfirmed number of passengers were said to have been burnt to death in an accident that occurred on Thursday night in Ogun State.

It was learnt that the incident happened around 10:20pm at the Long bridge axis of the Lagos-Ibadan highway, Obafemi/Owode Local Government.

The road crash involved a silver Toyota RAV 4, with registration number, LND 13 GS, a silver Toyota Camry marked, GGE 369 GJ and a burnt Mazda bus with unidentified number.

It was gathered that the burnt commercial bus was involved in wrongful overtaking before it hit a stationed faulty vehicle, the Toyota Rav 4, that was parked in the middle of the road.

“In the process, it lost control, somersaulted severally before it burst into flames,” the Ogun Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) spokesman, Babatunde Akinbiyi, told reporters on Friday morning.

Akinbiyi disclosed that many occupants of the bus were burnt beyond recognition, saying three of them sustained burn injuries.

He said TRACE operatives and other security agencies on ground rescued two victims to the Lagos State Accident and Emergency Centre and one other to the General Hospital at Gbagada.

As of the time of filling this report, 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.

Meanwhile, the TRACE Corps has sympathised with the family of the dead victims, warning drivers to “desist from speeding, wrongful overtaking and overbearing cum non-challant attitudes that expose other road users to risk and danger.”