Two children, five others burnt to death in Lagos-Ibadan highway crash

Seven persons, including two children, were on Sunday burnt to death when a bus crashed and went up in flames along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. No fewer than 14 other passengers were said to have been injured in the crash which occurred at the OPIC axis of the highway. The spokesman for the Federal Road Safety Corps, Ogun State Command, Florence Okpe, confirmed the accident in Abeokuta, the state capital. Okpe said the lone crash which involved a Mazda bus with number plate BDG993YG occurred around 10.45am on Sunday. She explained that 22 persons, comprising seven male adults, eight female adults, four male children and three female children, were involved in the crash, out of which seven died while 14 others were injured. She blamed the crash on “excessive speed and brake failure which led to a loss of control.” Okpe explained that the vehicle went up in flames after it crashed and burnt some of the occupants to death. “The injured victims have been taken to the Lagos State Accident Emergency Centre, Ojota while the corpses were deposited at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital’s morgue in Sagamu,” she said. Meanwhile, the FRSC Corps Marshal, Dauda Biu, has called on fleet and other commercial vehicle operators, as well as private vehicle owners to make routine and regular vehicle maintenance a major priority.