TheCable

Seventeen persons have been reported dead with 23 injured in three separate accidents on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway within two days. 

According to NAN, seven persons died, while nine others sustained injuries in an accident involving a Mazda bus and a truck at the Ogunmakin axis of the expressway on Friday.

The crash came a day after six persons died and one injured at the Kara area of the expressway.

A few hours earlier, a Toyota Hiace bus went up in flames, killing four persons and injuring 13 others in the Fidiwo area of Ogunmakin.

The latest crash, on Friday, involved a Mazda bus with LSR 696 XS as its registration number and a truck with registration number T-4889 LA.

The FRSC’s sector commander in Ogun, Ahmed Umar, blamed the accident on excessive speeding and loss of control by the bus driver, which made him ram into the moving truck ahead of him.

“A total of 16 persons, 15 of them male adults, were involved in the accident.

“Five men were injured while six men and one woman died in the mishap,’’ he said.

Umar said they took the injured victims to Victory Hospital, Ogere, Ogun, for treatment while the deceased were deposited at the FOS morgue in Ipara in Ogun.

The sector commander described the crash as avoidable if the bus driver had not sped excessively on the slippery highway as it was raining at the time of the accident.

Umar urged the families of the victims to contact the FRSC command in the Ogunmakin area for details and reclaim the belongings of the victims recovered from the scene.