Tragedy struck on Thursday at
Ikeja Along Bus Stop on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Lagos State, after a
heavily loaded 40-foot
container truck fell on a government meat van, crushed a passerby, and wounded
several others. Read more
Eyewitnesses said the truck had
swerved off the road to avoid colliding with some policemen, who were chasing a
motorcycle rider, before the incident occurred around 9am.
The victim, identified as Samuel
Ogunnaike, was an employee of a popular phone dealer in Computer Village,
Ikeja, and was on his way to the office when he met his death.
Any hope that he could survive
the accident was dashed after he was trapped for about four hours before his
body was retrieved from the wreckage.
The van, Eko Meat Van, with
number plate XY 433 AA was levelled after one of the containers fell on it. The
driver and three passengers in the vehicle, however, escaped with injuries.
Eyewitnesses blamed the accident
on the police.
One of them, Michael
Energy, said overzealous
policemen, who were chasing a motorcyclist, caused the confusion that led to
the accident.
He said, “I was coming from
Agege when I saw a commercial motorcyclist, popularly called okada, driving
against traffic. He was carrying a man and a lady as passengers.
“Some police officers who were coming from Ikeja Along tried
to stop him, but he ignored them.
“They gave him a chase and brushed the okada with their
vehicle, which sent the rider and his passengers sprawling on the road.
“Another police van came, and seeing the scene, decided to
wait. At this point, the two police vehicles blocked the road.
“The Eko meat van was coming on the same road, and since the
police had blocked the major road, he had no option, but to stop.
“The trailer, carrying two containers, was on top speed. I
think his brake failed because he was unable to control the speed.
“The driver of the trailer,
while trying to avoid colliding with the police officers, swerved and ended up
ramming into the van and killing the man who was passing by.”
Energy claimed that immediately
the accident occurred, the police vehicles disappeared from the accident scene.
A member of the Nigeria Security
and Civil Defence Corps, who would not want to be named said, the corps treated
two of the casualties at the accident scene, before they were taken to the
state’s hospital.
He said two other people that
were badly injured had also been taken to an undisclosed hospital before the
NSCDC officials arrived.
Mukaila Rauf, a 24-year-old meat
seller, who escaped unhurt in the meat van, said he sat at the back of the van.
Rauf said, “I saw the police
pursuing three bikes. Suddenly, we heard the trailer hooting. He tried avoiding
us, but its tail hit the van and one of the containers fell on us. Our driver
was badly injured.”
The atmosphere quickly turned to
that of hostility as the crowd jeered and booed the policemen who later cordoned
off the area.
This began a long line of
traffic, just as passengers of vehicles began to disembark and started trekking
to their destinations.
A police officer at the scene,
however, told Punch Metro that the police was not to blame for the accident.
She claimed that the accident
had occurred because the bike rider and the meat van had taken one way.
She said, “The motorcycle and
the van were taking one way when the police were trying to stop them. The
driver of the truck then on top speed hit the van.”
South-west coordinator of the
National Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said, “We got
conflicting accounts from the policemen and the public, so we don’t know
exactly the number of the casualties and what exactly transpired. We only took
out one dead body.”
Culled from The Punch Newspaper
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