•How I escaped tanker explosion — survivor •Relatives visit morgue to identify victims By Evelyn Usman and Monsur Olowoopejo
ANOTHER road traffic accident happened yesterday at Otedola Bridge, Berger, along Lagos/ Ibadan expressway, at the spot where a tanker explosion claimed at least 10 lives, with 54 vehicles burnt, last Thursday. The new crash on Otedola Bridge The crash which involved two commercial vehicles did not result in loss of lives. This is just as a motorist, who narrowly escaped being burnt on Thursday, said the number of casualties would have been more than nine, had people remained in their vehicles. Saturday Ejustland gathered that scores of passengers in the commercial buses sustained varying degrees of injuries in their attempt to rush out of the busses. Eyewitnesses said the buses were driving at opposite directions when they collided. The impact of the collision caused panic, as motorists mistook it for another explosion. Following Thursday’s incident, a section of the route was blocked to allow relevant agencies evacuate burnt vehicles from the scene. Meanwhile, one of the survivors of Thursday’s explosion, Funsho Oni, who visited the scene yesterday, narrated how he narrowly escaped. He said: “ I visited here to see the wreckage of the disaster. My escape was a miracle. Immediately after the explosion occurred, I waited for a while, thinking how I would manoeuvre my way out. It was not until I saw some motorists running towards my end that I decided to join. At that point, the fire had started to spread towards our direction. I had to jump to the other side of the road. I broke my knee in the process. A man who was on fire also jumped. Even in pains, I assisted him to put out the fire which affected his shirt. He had just minor burns. He called his wife with my phone because he said he forgot his phone in his car. By the time I spoke with him last night at 11pm his wife picked up the phone and informed that he was back from the hospital.” Another survivor, Adewale Adesanya, said: “Immediately the vehicle had brake failure, it fell and started spilling its contents. “Due to the state of the road, I saw the content spilling towards my vehicle with fire accompanying it. I quickly ran out of the vehicle to avoid being caught in the inferno.” Another commuter, Micheal Simon, whose car was razed, said: “I am happy I didn’t die while trying to escape from the scene. I tried maneuvering my vehicle to avoid being burnt but my efforts proved abortive.” Saturday Ejustland gathered that relatives of the deceased motorists visited the morgue where charred remains of the victims were deposited. But it was difficult for them to identify any of them, as they were burnt beyond recognition. One of the relatives, Gbolahan Wunmi said: “We have been expecting my brother since yesterday. We spoke with him last at 5 pm and he said he was still at Oshodi. He went to see our sick mother who was receiving herbal treatment at Badagry. When we did not see him at 8 pm, I called his phone but it was switched off. I concluded he had a flat battery, until news about the incident filtered in at 10 pm. I could not leave Mowe last night as I was told that the traffic gridlock was much.”