yesterday morning when a 10-coach Iddo bound train
rammed into a trailer truck at Ilupeju Railway
crossing near Oshodi, Lagos.
Also two Toyota Hiace buses travelling in opposite
directions along Potiskum-Kano road in the state, had
a head-on collision and thereafter went off in flames.
29 persons died,11 of them burnt beyond
recognition.
The accident which occurred at about 7:30 a.m. led
to traffic gridlock along the Ilupeju/Oshodi road for
several hours.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that each of the
coaches has 90 seats, but they were usually
overloaded.
An eye witness said that the articulated vehicle
blocked the railway crossing when the train was
already close by.
The loaded trailer had crashed into the double
barriers on the railway crossing shortly before the
train arrived.
On seeing the approaching train, the driver jumped
out of the trailer and ran away. The train then
dragged the truck for some distance, scattering the
goods inside it — which were mostly empty cartons
of Malta Guinness drink along the track.
The dragging of the truck also led to the damaging of
some vehicles parked along the rail track by motor
mechanics.
We gathered that the accident caused some damage
to the engine of the locomotive and the track.
Confirming the accident, Mr Ademuyiwa Adekanbi,
the Lagos District Public Relations Officer of the
Railways, said that no life was lost in the incident.
Adekanbi said that the corporation has embarked on
enough enlightenment campaigns on the use of the
Railway Crossings.
"We have done enough jingles on radio and
television, we have rallies and distributed fliers to
sensitise people of the right of way of a train at level
crossings," he said.
The incident makes it the third time in August that
passenger trains have rammed into vehicles at
railway crossings in the Lagos metropolis.
29 burnt to
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