A 20ft container fell off a moving truck at Ilasa, along the Oshodi-Apapa expressway, landing on a commuter bus.
Eight passengers, among them two staff of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) were killed while others who managed to jump out of the bus sustained varying degrees of injuries.
The mangled bodies of the victims were later removed after the container was lifted.
Identities of the FAAN staff were: Ajoku Chidinma, 27, a graduate of Babcock University, Ogun State and one Chima. They had closed from work and were on their way home when the incident happened.
Late Chidinma’s mother, a widow, who could not be consoled as she described her daughter’s death as devastating.
She said that ” we were told that the driver of the commercial bus in which my daughter and her colleague were, stopped at Ilasa bus-stop when a 20ft container carried by a reckless trailer driver on high speed fell on the bus”.
Unknowingly, “I was waiting for her to return home. I dialled her number, no response. I called her aunt whom she stayed with at Surulere. Both of us didn’t sleep until 6 am when a colleague of hers called me to say my daughter and her friend were involved in an accident and that they were at the Isolo General Hospital.”
When we got there, we were told they were not among those brought in. We were referred to the government hospital, Yaba. When we got there, they told us to go and check the morgue. My friend’s husband and my sons went to check the morgue, only to find the bodies of my daughter and her colleague there in the morgue”.
“My daughter was just 27 years and had plans to travel abroad for her Masters in the near future, only to have life snuffed out of her by a reckless driver”.
“I appeal to the authority concerned to bring these people to book. The government should do something because It is getting too much especially in Lagos. I remember there was a time when these trucks were virtually off the road in the day and were only allowed to ply at night. Now, they are everywhere, driving recklessly. I don’t know what they drink while driving which makes them fall on cars. There had been several similar cases that happened and nothing was done to bring justice to the victims”.
