Tragedy struck in the early hours of yesterday when a 16-seater commercial bus collided with a DAF truck along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, killing eight persons, including the bus driver.
Eight other passengers sustained varying degrees of injuries and were rescued from the wreckage before being rushed to the General Hospital in Badagry for medical attention.
Director of the Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Taofiq Adebayo, who confirmed the incident, said the cause of the accident could not be immediately determined.
However, he noted that preliminary investigations indicated the bus driver was speeding excessively while attempting to negotiate a bend before losing control and crashing into the truck.
“LASTMA profoundly regrets to announce a grievous and fatal road traffic collision which occurred today at Atura Bus Stop, inbound Badagry, involving a 16-seater commercial Mazda bus, registration number KJA 811 YF, and a DAF truck, marked T1 4636 LA,” Adebayo said.
“The tragic accident instantly claimed the lives of eight passengers, including the driver of the ill-fated bus and his conductor, casting a sombre pall over the Badagry axis and leaving the community in profound mourning and collective grief.”
Adebayo added that LASTMA operatives, working in collaboration with personnel from the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Nigeria Police Force (Morogbo Division), and the Nigerian Army’s 244 Battalion (Ibereko Barracks), carried out a swift rescue operation at the scene.
He said: “Their timely intervention led to the successful extraction of eight surviving passengers, all of whom sustained varying degrees of trauma.”
The General Manager of LASTMA, Mr Olalekan Bakare-Oki, who visited the scene to assess the situation, extended condolences to the bereaved families and described the crash as a painful reminder of life’s fragility. “No journey should end in such a tragedy. May the Almighty grant the deceased eternal rest and console those left behind,” he said.
