At least six persons have been confirmed dead by emergency responders, and over 82 persons injured after a passenger train crushed a Lagos State Government staff bus on its way from Ikotun enroute Alausa, the state secretariat, at the PWD area of the state around 7am this morning.
The injured passengers were rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who visited the hospital, said two persons died at the scene of the accident and four at the hospital.
The sights from the scene are gory as passersby watch in horror even as dead and injured victims were extricated from the bus which was hit right on the rail tracks.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) spokesman, Adebayo Taofiq said though the bus involved in the crash is the same as the regular BRT buses in the state, the bus was a staff bus of the Lagos State Government.
Also, a spokesman for the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Nosa Okunbor said over 82 others injured and evacuated to LASUTH.
“The State Government staff bus was trying to cross the PWD/Sogunle rail crossing while the train coming into Lagos from Abeokuta trapped the bus on its rail,” he added.
First responders later arrived the scene for rescue operations.
Fatal cases of vehicle-train collision have resulted in casualties over the years. The last one was recorded in December 2022 when a passenger train from Kaduna to Abuja crushed a middle-aged woman to death on the rail track around the Kubwa area of the nation’s Federal Capital Territory. Stakeholders and safety experts have repeatedly called for preventive measures to stop the recurrence but not much can be said to have been done by the concerned authorities.
