It is a sad day for government workers in Lagos State on Thursday as a moving train rammed into a state bus conveying civil servants to work. The unfortunate crash occurred at the PWD bus stop in the Ikeja area of the state on Thursday morning. Already, two persons have been confirmed dead by emergency responders, and 84 persons injured and rushed to nearby hospitals.
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 National Emergency Management Agency in Lagos, Ibrahim Farinloye said, “Two adult females staff of the State Government dead and several injured evacuated.” “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.
