Women lose eye, arm as truck rams into church

Five people were injured on Tuesday, after a truck hit a commercial bus and then rammed into church premises, on Old Ota Road, Ota, Ogun State.

In the Old Ota Road accident, among the five victims, three were said to be in critical conditions. Two women were among the critically wounded trio. The bloodied women were dragged out from beneath the wrecked commercial bus.

One of the women had her left arm broken and dangling, while the second lost an eye. The other three suffered severe injuries to the head.

The truck, loaded with 600 bags of Lafarge Cement, crashed into a yellow Volkswagen LT commercial bus. The bus had 10 passengers and was heading towards Oshodi, Lagos State.

Victims were rushed to New Merit Hospital, off Moshalashi Road and Holyfield Hospital, both at Agbado-Oke Odo, Lagos State.

However, for about 30 minutes after the crash, motorists refused to oblige to pleadings of rescuers that the victims be assisted to the nearest hospital.

The driver of the Lafarge Cement truck, with registration number GGE468XG, whose documents identified him as Adewole Ismaila, jumped off the truck when he discovered that the truck’s brakes had failed while it was on full speed.

According to eyewitnesses’ accounts, the truck driver was screaming, “leave the way,” at motorists before the truck hit the moving commercial bus. The bus somersaulted thrice on impact. The truck driver, on witnessing accident, took to his heels for fear of being lynched.

This reporter witnessed touts picking petty items from the shattered vehicles, while some of them urged onlookers and sympathizers to divert the bags of cement from the overturned truck.

The batteries of both vehicles were also stolen. Scattered cash at the scene of the accident were also stolen.