11 Persons Die In Ogun Multiple Accidents

At least 11 persons were yesterday confirmed dead in two separate accidents which occurred on the federal highway across the Ogun State corridors.

While one person died in the first accident that occurred 11 p.m Wednesday night along the Abeokuta-Sango Ota highway, 10 others were burnt beyond recognition when a truck conveying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly referred to as petrol exploded along the ever busy Lagos-Ibadan expressway yesterday.

Confirming the incident, the sector commander, Federal Road Safety Corps in Ogun, Ahmed Umar, confirmed the incident to reporters in Abeokuta.

Umar said that the accident occurred around Conoil in Araromi before Sagamu Interchange on the expressway.

According to him, five vehicles were burnt in the raging inferno, saying the victims of the accidents were burnt beyond recognition.

Also commenting on the development, the Public Education Officer for Ogun State Sector Command if the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Florence Okpe, explained that an IVECO containerized truck with registration numbers LAR 654 YD involved in the first accident, fell on a Peugeot saloon car at Itori axis of Ewekoro Local Government Area, killing one man out of the two occupants.

She further stated that the second accident, which occurred between Conoil fuelling station and Sagamu interchange corridor of Lagos-Ibadan expressway around few minutes after 2a.m, involved the PMS laden tanker truck which exploded and burnt three other trucks and a commercial bus with all its 10 passengers.

The FRSC spokeswoman, however, attributed causes of the multiple crash to excessive speed which led to loss of control on the part of the IVECO truck and resulted in a fire outbreak due to leakage.

According to Okpe, the charred bodies of the victims have been evacuated to the morgue of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital in Sagamu, while wreckage of the vehicles have also been removed from the expressway to pave way for free flow of traffic.