Tears and Blood Flow... 30 Die As Speeding Trailer Tumbles On Lagos Expressway

No fewer than 30 passengers died in the Adeosun area of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Sunday after a big trailer conveying them tumbled down the road.

Over 50 other people sustained varying degrees of injuries in the crash, while two rams were killed.

The sad accident occurred on the portion of the expressway which had been recently reconstructed.

According to Punch, 25 corpses were counted at the scene of the accident. Eyewitnesses said about five corpses had been taken to a mortuary. Other victims of the accident, which occurred around 7am, were not removed until past 9am.

A victim, who lost two relatives, covered the faces of the deceased with clothes and broke down in tears.

Shouting the name of Allah as he wailed, the victim identified simply as Mohammed, refused all entreaties as he knelt down between the two corpses and wept bitterly.

One of the survivors of the accident, who gave his name as Mohammed Seripino, said the trailer was coming from Kaduna and had travelled all night.

He said each passenger paid N1,000 as transport fare, adding that the journey from Kaduna was smooth before the accident occurred.

“We are all Hausa. We were coming from Kaduna. Each passenger paid N1,000. This is not good,” he said.

An eyewitness, who gave his name as Yinka Dada, said he was seeing off his son, who was on his way to Lagos, when the accident occurred.

He said, “I saw everything. I was by the roadside when the accident occurred. I was with my son who was going to Lagos when I saw two vehicles speeding as if they were competing in a race.

“The other vehicle was able to control the wheel, while the driver of the trailer lost control, tumbled down the expressway, and spilled out the passengers one after another.”

A police patrol van with two officials also visited the scene.

One of the policemen in the van told those with minor injuries to help those with critical injuries into the police van.

However, some sympathisers said the responses of both the police and the officials of the FRSC were poor, and began to rain curses on Nigeria’s political class.

An Electrical Engineering student of the Abdul Gusau Polytechnic, Zamfara, who did not disclose his name, said government should be blamed for the poor response to the plight of the victims.

The student said, “Our leaders have embezzled all the money that should be used to put infrastructure in place. This is why people are dying like rats.”

A middle-aged man, Onyekachi Otuonye, lamented rescuers’ response time to the accident.

Otuonye said, “This is deplorable. Even slaves should not be treated like this. Human lives should be treated with respect and dignity.”

Another drama happened when a man in a cleric robe, attributed the accident to witches and wizards. He was immediately shouted down by some sympathisers at the scene.

One of the sympathisers, Biliaminu Awodele, who confronted the cleric, said, “Accidents happen all over the world, nobody dey blame witches and wizards, abeg, carry your yeye prediction commot here!”