More than ten people were crushed in the early hours of Friday when a Lagos mass transit train coming from Ijoko, Ogun State crashed into a commercial bus in Agege.
According to an eyewitness account, “the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) train which departed Ijoko around 6:30 AM for Apapa crashed into a commercial bus parked on the trains right of way, leaving many people hanging on the train’s engine dead and severely injured.
“Most of the dead were people the NRC normally categorises as ” illegal passengers” because they refuse to sit inside the train, rather preferring to hang on the train’s engine which pulls the train forward.
“The huge casualty occurred due to the fact that the engine head that rammed into the commercial vehicle had many people hanging on it.
“The accident delayed the train in Agege for more than an hour before it was flagged off to continue its journey to Apapa.
“We saw bodies of dead people. Some disembowelled and cut into two parts while others still in whole,” an onlooker who was onboard the train disclosed to Saturday Tribune.
When contacted, the Regional District Manager of the NRC, Lagos District, Mr Jerry Oche stated that only two people have been confirmed dead while there are many fatal injuries.
In his words, “My Committees are already on site doing their work of founding out the cause of the accident and extent of injuries or death. But I can confirm to you as at this morning that only two people have been confirmed dead.
“I hear many are fatally injured, but fact-finding work is still ongoing.”
