Eight people were, on Sunday, confirmed dead, and eight others injured in a road accident at Atura Bus Stop, inbound Badagry, in Lagos State.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), which disclosed this in a statement, said that the accident involved a collision between a 16-seater commercial Mazda bus, with registration number KJA 811 YF, and a DAF truck, marked T1 4636 LA.
The agency said a preliminary investigation revealed that the driver of the commercial bus lost control while navigating at a dangerous “high speed, leading to a catastrophic collision with a DAF truck”.
It said that the impact created by the accident left little chance for survival for several occupants of the bus.
“The tragic accident instantly claimed the lives of eight passengers, including the driver of the ill-fated bus and his conductor, casting a somber pall over the Badagry axis and leaving the community in profound mourning and collective grief,” the statement signed by its Director of Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, Adebayo Taofiq, read in part.
“LASTMA operatives, in concert with personnel from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Nigeria Police Force (Morogbo Division), and the 244 Battalion of the Nigerian Army (Ibereko Barracks), swiftly launched a coordinated rescue operation at the accident scene. Their timely intervention led to the successful extraction of eight surviving passengers, all of whom sustained varying degrees of trauma,” it added.
The agency said that the casualties were immediately evacuated to the General Hospital in Badagry with an FRSC vehicle for critical medical attention.