Lagos Train-Bus Crash: Lagos Driver Was Using Earpiece – Eyewithness

Tragedy struck in Lagos a few minutes before 8am on Thursday when a passenger train collided with a fully-loaded staff bus belonging to the Lagos State Government at the PWD rail crossing, off the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. Lagos State Emergency Management Agency and the Nigerian Railway Corporation have blamed the driver of a Lagos State Government staff bus for the fatal train accident which killed six people and injured 96.

The Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, told journalists that the bus driver ignored signals from the NRC officials as he was in a hurry to cross the rail.

The ill-fated bus with registration no 04A- 48LA was navigating its way to connect the Government Residential Area, Ikeja en route to the state secretariat, Alausa, when it collided with the train at the PWD rail crossing.

The bus was said to be coming from Isolo while the train was heading to Ido from Ijoko, Ogun State.

The Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo,  said the teaching hospital admitted 102 victims of the crash.

Fabamwo described the experience as overwhelming, he said the hospital received 85 victims at once.

He revealed that the health facility embarked on open space treatment also known as triage, which he said is the world’s best practice in emergencies.

He said triage was the best option because the hospital’s emergency unit only has 30-bed spaces and that some other patients were already occupying some of the beds before the crash victims were brought in. Fabamwo revealed that six deaths were recorded in the crash. Two died at the scene of the accident, four others died later in the hospital.

EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT

A trader around the rail track, Mrs Chika Joe, said that it was like a dream how the accident occurred.

She said, “I saw the bus driver driving through the crossing as the train came from the right. The flag bearers were shouting and blowing their whistles, asking him not to make the move, but somehow, he was in so much hurry.

“In a few minutes, we saw how the train carried this bus down the other side of the level crossing. Parts of the bus smashed into a fence. I have never seen anything like that in my life.”

Joe added that she saw a man attempting to jump off but was hit by a fence, causing him to fall off the train and onto the track.

She said residents of the area rushed to the rescue but he had already been badly injured by the metal fence.

“I saw one woman covered in a pool of her own blood. She had hit her head on a slab of stone. Everyone was panicking. I could not open my shop for more than three hours because of the crash,” she added.

Another eyewitness  claimed that the bus driver did not hear the noise of the whistle from the level crosser and the other bus driver because he had something plugged in his ears.

He said, “The man (driver) was not focused. He plugged in a device in his ears that did not allow him to hear the noise. I could hear it from the other end of PWD where I was. It is still a wonder why he couldn’t hear it.

“I rushed to the scene to see what I could do but I broke down crying. I saw young people. I saw women, covered in blood. A middle-aged man just sat on the floor. He couldn’t even stand when we tried to help him. His legs were shaking.”

Another eyewitness, Steven Samson, said, “The train was moving at top speed when the bus was about to navigate the rail into GRA. And by the time he got to the middle of the rail, he could not move fast away from the rail track and that was where the train met the bus.

“The train dragged the bus on the rail line from PWD to Shogunle before it stopped. Although, he was flagged down by the man manning that point but the driver probably did not see it or maybe he ignored it and thought he had the time to cross before the train approached him.”