Photo: FRSC officials at an unrelated accident scene
At least six people were killed and two others injured in a road accident on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State on Thursday, Nigeria’s road safety agency said.
The latest tragedy occurred just days after a former unified heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua, narrowly escaped death in a ghastly clash that claimed the lives of two of his friends riding with him in a Lexus SUV.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said the latest crash occurred at about 2:36 p.m. near the NASFAT junction, a busy section of the highway linking Lagos with several southwestern states.
Eyewitnesses’ accounts of the accident revealed that blood covered the section of the road where the accident occurred on New Year’s afternoon.
In a statement, the FRSC said the accident involved a Mazda commercial bus and a Volvo truck and was caused by overspeeding.
Eight people were involved in the crash, the agency said. “Six lost their lives on the spot, while two others sustained varying degrees of injuries,” FRSC sector spokesperson Odunsi Afolabi said.
Some injured victims were taken by good Samaritans to an unidentified hospital before emergency responders arrived, while others were taken to Famobis Hospital in Lotto for treatment, he added. The bodies of the deceased were deposited at a morgue.
FRSC personnel from the Mowe Unit and Ibafo Outpost, ambulance teams from the Ojota Unit Command, as well as police and officials of the state traffic agency TRACE, took part in the rescue operation.
The FRSC said its Ogun State sector commander, Akinwumi O. Fasakin, has ordered a full investigation into the crash.
