Many injured as BRT bus, Danfo, truck collide in Lagos
No fewer than 19 passengers sustained injuries in multiple auto crashes involving a Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, a commercial yellow bus (Danfo), and a truck at Ketu, inward Ojota area of Lagos State yesterday.
Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, LASEMA, team from the Command and Control Centre, arrived the scene — under the Ojota inter-change bridge — at about 12 noon amid heavy rainfall, reports Vanguard.
The vehicles were a BRT bus with number plates EXY-167XY, an articulated truck carrying a 40-foot container, and an 18-seater commercial bus, with number plates JJJ-439YG.
It was gathered that the articulated truck, while heading inward Ketu, suddenly lost control, skidded off its lane, and collided with the BRT bus heading to Ojota.
The BRT bus then skidded off its lane into the service lane and collided with the Danfo.
The accident led to traffic gridlock along the axis, as stranded motorists spent several hours in the ensuing gridlock.
No deaths
Fortunately, there was no record of death. However, the 15 injured persons were transported to nearby hospitals for treatment.
Four of the victims were attended to by LASEMA’s pre-hospital care team alongside Lagos State Ambulances Service, LASAMBUS, at the incident scene.
Permanent Secretary, LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, who was at the scene said that the agency’s LRT, in collaboration with Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, officials at the incident scene, activated road traffic control and were able to divert vehicles into the BRT lane to safely evacuate the vehicles off the road.
Fire guts residential building
In another incident, LASEMA and men of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, led by its Director, Mrs Magaret Adeseye, responded to distress calls on a fire outbreak in a one-storey building at number 16 Alhaji Jubril Street Magodo, Phase 2, Isheri area of the state.
The fire destroyed items worth millions of naira.
The agency’s response team from the command and control centre at Alausa arrived at the twin duplex, and evacuated occupants to safety.
According to an eyewitness, the fire spread quickly to the main duplex consisting of about five rooms.
The fire then escalated through the roof to the other wing of the duplex, which consisted of about three bedrooms and a living room.
The Agency’s LRT discovered that the cause of the fire was an electrical surge from the air conditioner unit in one of the rooms in the main duplex.
Rescue
The fire was quickly curtailed from spreading to surrounding and adjacent buildings.
A few contents of the duplex, including furniture and personal belongings, were salvaged due to the quick response of the response unit.
However, during the operation, one of the firefighters fell from the ceiling, but was quickly rescued and attended to by the LASAMBUS officials at the incident scene.
