PUNCH Metro learnt that the accident occurred at about 6.30am as the pedestrians were on a queue in front of a motor park at U-turn waiting to board the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit.
Our correspondent learnt that no sooner had the vehicle crashed into the waiting passengers than the driver alighted and escaped in the ensuing confusion
A motorist in the park, who gave his name simply as Adeleke, told our correspondent that four of the passengers, who were seriously injured, were rushed to a nearby private hospital.
He said, “It was at about 6.30am. We don’t know whether the driver was drunk or whether he was sleeping on the steering. Many passengers were on a queue in front of our park to board a waiting BRT bus. Suddenly, the Volvo just swerved to where they were standing, and cleared several of them off. The Volvo also hit a taxi cab by the side.
“While we were still trying to rescue the trapped driver in the cab and the injured passengers, the driver ran away, abandoning his vehicle. But we quickly rushed the victims to a private hospital behind our park here.”
Our correspondent observed that many motorists and passengers in the park were discussing the accident. A woman showed our correspondent a young tree which had been uprooted by the force of the vehicle’s impact.
“You can imagine the havoc which a vehicle collision that uprooted a tree would have done to the victims,” she said.
When our correspondent visited the hospital, a nurse on duty, who pleaded anonymity, said as a result of the critical condition of the passengers, three of them had been referred to the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Igbobi.
“The four injured passengers were all women. We could not admit all of them because they were severely wounded. We had to refer three of them to the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Igbobi. Only one is with us now and she is responding to treatment,” she said.
It was learnt that the case was reported at the Oke-Odo Police Division, where the Volvo car and the other damaged taxi cab had been taken.
While at the police division, our correspondent saw the damaged vehicles.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the accident, adding that the police had taken the victims to a hospital.
She said, “There was a serious accident this morning in Abule Egba, but it was not fatal. Six people sustained injuries, and the people around alerted the police. The police then came to the rescue. No life was lost.
“People were thinking that some lives were lost, but the police discovered that no one died.
“The vehicles concerned are at the police division and we will surely get the suspect.”
Please do share this with your friends on facebook, google+ and twitter, using the share and like buttons below.
No comments:
Post a Comment