SIX Staff of the Lagos State Government have been confirmed dead in the Train Collision with the State Staff bus at the PWD junction, IKEJA early Thursday morning of March 9, 2023.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu paid an unscheduled visit to the staff at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Lagos where 82 Civil Servants who sustained various degree of injuries were rushed to.
Meanwhile, Sanwo-Olu has declared three days of mourning and flags to fly half-mast for the period for the departed souls.
The sights from the scene are gory as passersby watch in horror even as dead and injured victims were extricated from the bus which was hit right on the rail tracks.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) spokesman, Adebayo Taofiq said though the bus involved in the crash is the same as the regular BRT buses in the state, the bus was a staff bus of the Lagos State Government.
Also, a spokesman for the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Nosa Okunbor said, “Two adult females and one male staff of the State Government lost their lives in the crash and 82 others injured and evacuated to LASUTH.”. But as at the last on a live news broadcast, number of deaths have increased to six.
“The State Government staff bus was trying to cross the PWD/Sogunle rail crossing while the train coming into Lagos from Abeokuta trapped the bus on its rail,”
First responders later arrived the scene for rescue operations.
Fatal cases of vehicle-train collision have resulted in casualties over the years. The last one was recorded in December 2022 when a passenger train from Kaduna to Abuja crushed a middle-aged woman to death on the rail track around the Kubwa area of the nation’s Federal Capital Territory. Stakeholders and safety experts have repeatedly called for preventive measures to stop the recurrence but not much can be said to have been done by the concerned authorities.
“I am deeply saddened by the news of the train/bus accident . The vehicle was conveying staff of the Lagos state government, our staff who serve the state in different capacities,” the governor said in a statement.
“Let’s say a prayer for the families and a prayer of mercy and protection for our state. My thoughts are with the victims and their families during this difficult time.”
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