Reckless Driving: Truck crushes three to death in Ogun

• LASEMA rescues two in Lagos accident, warns against reckless driving

Three persons were yesterday crushed to death in a ghastly auto-crash, which occurred on the Abeokuta-Sagamu highway in Ogun State. It was learnt the accident occurred by Muhammadu Buhari Estate, at about 1:00p.m. while a rescue operation was going on.

It was gathered that while the rescue team was carrying out a rescue operation, an oncoming truck on full speed left the cordoned off road to the road shoulder where it crushed the three persons to death.

The state sector commander, Clement Oladele, told media source that three vehicles were involved in the accident, a blue Mack truck with registration number KJA931XH, black Honda Accord NRK186EM and Toyota Corolla FST04ER, while six persons – three male adults and three female adults –were involved in the accident. Of the casualties, two female adults and one male adult were killed.

“While the rescue team was carrying out a rescue operation, a truck speeding left the cordoned-off road to the road shoulder where it crushed three people to death. The first crash was serious with the injured. In the process of rescuing them and clearing the obstruction, a speeding truck lost control despite being flagged down. The speeding truck went to the road shoulder and ran over the people standing by the roadside, killing three of them.”

Oladele said the injured victims were taken to Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta and the obstructions cleared. He expressed condolences to the families of the crash victims, while noting that legal proceedings have begun against the reckless truck driver.

Meanwhile, the General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Adesina Tiamiyu, has advised motorists to always ensure they drive within the approved speed limit, obey all road signs as well as remain vigilant and look ahead for any obstruction and activities of other road users to avoid any unfortunate incident that may lead to unnecessary injuries and loss of lives.

Tiamiyu gave the warning yesterday following the accident that occurred during the early hours of the day when an articulated gas truck said to be on high speed rammed into another stationary articulated truck resulting in an accident which could ordinarily be avoided if necessary safety and road traffic rules were strictly adhered to by the motorists.

He went on to explain that they received a distress call at about 7:09a.m. via the emergency toll-free line 112/767 regarding an accident on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway after Cele bus-stop inward Mile 2, which prompted the immediate activation of the agency’s response team and other responders to the scene.

According to him, “preliminary investigations carried out at the scene revealed that the driver of the articulated gas truck was on high speed, suddenly lost control and rammed into a containerized truck parked by the side of the road. Three persons sustained varying degrees of injuries and one of the victims was rushed to an undisclosed hospital where he is battling for his life, while the other two victims that were trapped were rescued alive.”