Many people were burnt to death Thursday when the driver of a tanker loaded with fuel lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the road median in Nigeria’s commercial city of Lagos, after which a speeding commuter bus rammed into it and burst into flames.
Mr. Gregory Drambi, a federal road safety official at the scene of the accident, which occurred along the Orile road on the outskirts of the city around 5am local time, said nine people were burnt to death, while several others suffered varying degrees of burns.
Apart from the two vehicles involved in the crash, five other vehicles were burnt.
However, eyewitnesses said they counted at least 10 charred bodies at the scene.
The dead include the passengers in the commuter bus and traders in their road-side shops.
The road along which the accident occurred is the major link between Nigeria and neighbouring Republic of Benin.
Accidents involving fuel tankers are common in the bustling city of 140 million people, where traffic gridlock is a routine
PANAPRESS
