At least 18 people were burned to death on Monday in a lone accident involving a white Toyota Hiace bus near the RCC yard along the Ijebu-Ode/Benin expressway.
The crash, which occurred around 3:30 p.m., left the driver critically injured. According to reports, the bus caught fire after hitting a damaged section of the road, causing a keg of petrol inside the vehicle to spill onto the exhaust pipe.
Babatunde Akinbiyi, spokesperson for the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE), confirmed the incident to GMart News correspondent in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.
“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”.
Akinbiyi further stated that the injured driver had been taken to Rona Hospital for treatment, while the bodies of the deceased were deposited at the State Hospital in Ijebu Ode.
He expressed condolences to the families of the victims and urged drivers to avoid carrying petrol in their vehicles due to the high risks involved.
In a separate incident, a Mazda bus with registration No. JGB 330 ZT crashed around Ita Osu at about 6:45 p.m. on Monday along the Abeokuta-Siun-Sagamu expressway, leaving seven people injured. The accident was attributed to excessive speeding and a tyre burst, causing the vehicle to somersault.
