A devastating bus accident occurred Monday along the Ijebu-Ode/Benin expressway, claiming the lives of at least 18 people.
The lone vehicle collision involved a white Toyota Hiace bus, which caught fire after hitting a failed section of the road, leaving the driver critically injured.
According to Babatunde Akinbiyi, spokesperson for the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, TRACE, the accident happened around 3:30 pm.
Reports indicate that a keg of petrol inside the bus fell and poured onto the exhaust pipe, causing the vehicle to erupt in flames.
According to Akinbiyi, the injured driver has been taken to Rona Hospital for medical care while the corpses of the dead were deposited at the State Hospital, Ijebu Ode.
While commiserating with families of the victims, he called on drivers to stop carrying petrol in their vehicles due to the attendant risk involved.
Akinbiyi said: “the cause of the crash according to eye witness account which was corroborated by the driver was that, there was keg full of PMS inside the bus which fell on its side when the vehicle got to failed portion of the road.
“The PMS poured on the floor of the bus and later dropped on the exhaust pipe and caused the vehicle to catch fire on transit”.
This incident highlights the urgent need for improved road safety and maintenance measures to prevent such losses in the future.
