Five persons were killed and several others injured yesterday in multiple crashes on the Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway.

Properties worth millions of naira were also destroyed in the accidents which occurred near the former toll gate close to Sango-Ota in Ogun State.

Ota Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Leye Adegboyega appealed to motorists to be disciplined while on the wheel.

According to Adegboyega, the crashes occurred at midnight and at 6.40am.

The first crash involved a Lafarge trailer, loaded with cement. The brake failed and the driver rammed into other vehicles, some of which plunged into the stream. The five died in the crash.

The vehicles are a Toyota Hillux marked BDJ413XA, two Ford buses registered FST75XA and AAA688XA, two Volkswagen buses with number-plates APP827XF and EKY488XM, and a Mazda car marked SMK892CB.

The accidents attracted some commercial drivers and miscreants, who went on the rampage, damaging articulated vehicles mostly Dangote trucks and trailers. They also attacked the rescue teams in anger.

The injured were taken to Ota General Hospital. The victims’ bodies were deposited in the hospital’s morgue.

Adegboyega said some valuable documents including cash were recovered from the scene.

They are N54,970 cash, four handsets (one blackberry, two Nokia, one Alcatel), a bunch of keys and a purse containing Mr Oloyede Tunde’s driver’s license.

The second crash involving eight vehicles, Adegboyega said, occurred at 6.40am.

It was also caused by brake failure. The vehicles were Mitsubushi Station Wagon marked with KTU824DS, Toyota Corolla Car, AKD221BQ, Iveco truck, KRD215XB, Volkswagen buses, AAA955XJ and BDG886XE, Honda Accord car LND525BF, two Toyota Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) LSD989CQ and  EKY45CV

Adegboyega urged cement firms to train and retrain their drivers.

 

 

Source: The Nation Nigeria