A tragic incident unfolded in Ita-Osin, Abeokuta, Ogun State on Saturday, resulting in one fatality and two individuals sustaining injuries of varying severity, alongside the destruction of five vehicles.
According to an eyewitness, the calamity was triggered by a suspected brake failure experienced by a gas tanker, leading the driver to collide with a road culvert, followed by a subsequent eruption of flames.
Allegedly, the failure of the gas-laden truck to yield the right of way aggravated the situation, provoking the driver of another truck to crash into the road median, igniting a fire that culminated in the explosion.
Florence Okpe, a spokesperson for the Ogun State Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps, later corroborated the incident’s occurrence in a statement issued on Saturday evening.
Okpe stated that the deceased was believed to be the motorboy accompanying the gas-laden tanker. The accident unfolded when the truck, experiencing brake failure, lost control and collided with a roadside culvert.
Tragically, the ensuing fire engulfed four additional vehicles and two adjacent shops, compounding the devastation at the accident site.
“The number of people involved was six and all male adults. Two got injured. Unfortunately, one person died from the fire incident, which is the motor boy who was trapped. A total of five vehicles were involved.
“The fire service was contacted immediately and the scene was cordoned off to avoid a secondary crash,” Mrs Okpe said.
This comes barely 24 hours after a massive, fiery carnage on the East-West Road in Rivers State destroyed more than dozens of vehicles, scourged goods worth estimated billions, and claimed at least five lives.
The devastating incident happened on Friday night along the Eleme axis of the road, which has long been neglected, increasing motorists’ risks.
Reports suggest that the tragedy was triggered when a tanker, navigating the dilapidated road, was hit by another heavy-duty vehicle, igniting flames and an explosion.
The ensuing inferno engulfed at least 120 vehicles on the road at the time, with some occupants trapped and unable to escape the fire, which spread rapidly.
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