Pregnant woman, baby, burnt beyond recognition, hoodlums beat up traffic officials

A pregnant woman and a baby were among seven people who were burnt beyond recognition in a ghastly motor accident that that occurred over the weekend at Kara, Ogun state, along Lagos/Ibadan expressway.

The 18-seater bus they were riding in suddenly went up in flames after the bus developed leakages on the fuel tank, Vanguard reports.

The report said: “One of the passengers was said to have noticed a spark from the engine and raised the alarm which made the driver to stop abruptly in order to check the cause of the incident”.

It added that passengers scrambled to get off the vehicle but the fire had jammed its doors. And before help could come, the fire consumed seven of the passengers, including the pregnant woman and the baby. Eleven others reportedly sustained varying degrees of injuries.

Crisis enveloped the area when hoodlums descended on officials of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE) and some traffic policemen who rushed to the scene to help. Eyewitnesses said the hoodlums vented their anger on them because sympathizers had called for the help of the Ogun state fire service but none arrived until the situation degenerated.

An eye witness said the situation which caused a traffic jam that lasted for hours, was brought under control by men of the Rapid Response Squad RRS, in Lagos and Quick Response Squad from Mowe axis.

The injured and the dead were said to have been taken to Ogun State University Teaching Hospital OSUTH, Sagamu.

Vanguard quotes the TRACE Public Relations Officer, Babatunde Akinbiyi, as saying that the officials arrived the scene as soon as they received a distress call but lamented that the miscreants threw caution to the wind, causing further damage on the every busy expressway.