Train-bus crash: NRC, LASEMA blame driver for impatience

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency and the Nigerian Railway Corporation have placed the blame for a fatal train accident that occurred in the PWD area of the state on Thursday on the driver of a Lagos State Government worker vehicle. Six people were killed and 96 were injured.

At the PWD rail crossing, off the Lagos-Abeokuta Highway, a passenger train collided with a fully laden staff vehicle owned by the Lagos State Government, causing tragedy to strike in Lagos just before 8am on Thursday.

Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, said to reporters that the bus driver disregarded the NRC officials’ signals because he was impatient to cross the rail.

Also, the NRC, in a statement by its Deputy Director Public Relations, Yakub Mahmood, said the bus failed to obey the instruction of the corporation officials as he overtook other vehicles waiting for the train to pass.

The Federal Government has ordered an investigation into the accident.

The ill-fated bus with registration no 04A- 48LA was navigating its way to connect the Government Residential Area, Ikeja en route to the state secretariat, Alausa, when it collided with the train at the PWD rail crossing.

The bus was said to be coming from Isolo while the train was heading to Ido from Ijoko, Ogun State.

According to eyewitnesses, the train dragged the bus on its rail for about 100 metres from PWD to Sogunle before getting stuck.

Some panic-stricken passengers of the bus, especially those close to the exit doors, reportedly made frantic efforts to jump off the bus being dragged by the train.

By the time the train and the bus finally stopped on the rail, the bus passengers fell upon one another in their attempts to find their way out of the trapped vehicle.

Two passengers were said to have died on the spot while others sustained various degrees of injuries.

Rescue workers who were mobilised to the scene evacuated the victims and rushed them to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.