Three escape death as trailer collides with car in Ogun

Three persons suffered varying degrees of injuries on Thursday after a trailer crashed into the vehicle they were travelling in at the Arepo end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State.

The incident, which happened around 1.30pm at an intersection where vehicles make a U-turn on the highway, left the Toyota Sienna marked, AFZ 330 HW, badly damaged and stained with the blood of the occupants.

Eyewitnesses blamed the driver of the trailer marked, EKY 739 XK, for the crash, accusing him of not taking proper caution before going into the expressway from a junction opposite the turning, thereby crashing into the vehicle which was heading for Lagos from Benin, Edo State.

An eyewitness, identified supply as, Ayo,narrated that he was at the other side of the road under a tree when the accident happened, adding that the driver of the trailer immediately took to his heels.

He said, “I saw everything as it happened because I was sitting under a tree at the other side of the road. It was the fault of the trailer. I was among those who brought out the victims from the vehicle because when the police arrived at the scene they did not care about those in the vehicle; all they were concerned with was how to move the trailer to their station. If not for our intervention, the victims could have died.”

Two of the occupants of the vehicle, a male and a female, who were seriously injured, were rushed to the Lagos State Emergency Centre.

The driver of the Sienna, Ogiriki Emmanuel, could barely speak and was still in shock at the time our correspondent arrived at the scene. He also had bruises all over his body.

However, an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who asked not to be named, told our correspondent at the scene of the tragedy that he did not know if the victims would survive the injuries.

“We rushed them to the emergency centre near our office at toll gate, but I cannot ascertain their present state at the moment. Their condition is very critical,” the unnamed official said.

The incident caused gridlock on both sides of the expressway.