Five persons were burnt beyond recognition while three others sustained injuries in a fatal accident on the Badagry-Seme Expressway in Lagos on Thursday.
Mr Sulaiman Taiwo, Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) at Badagry, confirmed the accident.
He said that the accident occurred at Akoro Village, on the Badagry-Sème Expressway.
The accident involved a Honda Pilot SUV with registration number LSR 772 HE and motorcycle with unidentifiable registration number.
Taiwo said the driver of the Honda Pilot must have been over-speeding and lost control before hitting the motorcycle laden with petrol.
“The driver of the jeep collided with the motorcycle resulting in an explosion.
“By the time we got to the scene, the raging fire had burnt three persons beyond recognition, while two others lost their lives during the rescue operation.
“Three persons that survived the inferno were taken to the General Hospital in Badagry while the five corpses were deposited at the mortuary in the same hospital,’’ he said.
Taiwo added that the prompt response by personnel of the Customs Service, Fire Brigade, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the police restored normalcy to the area.
Also speaking, the Medical Director, General Hospital, Badagry, Dr Olatunde Bakare, said some relations of the dead had reported to claim the bodies, while the three survivors were receiving treatment at the Emergency Unit of the hospital.
He urged motorists and other road users to stop carrying petrol inside jerry cans in their vehicles as the rate at which the hospital was treating victims of fire incidents was alarming.
Also, no fewer than 10 passengers were burnt to death on Oyo-Ogbomoso road on Thursday.
The passengers, involved in a head on collision involving a Mazda and a Toyota Hiace passenger buses, were burnt beyond recognition.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) confirmed the incident on Thursday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Joshua Adekanye, said the incident occurred about 5.30 a.m around Kilometres 12 Ijawaya on Oyo-Ogbomoso road.
He said that the buses with registration numbers LEM 963 XA and NSR 222 ZS were coming from Lagos and Nasarawa states respectively.
Adekanye said that the vehicles went on flame immediately resulting to the burning of the occupants.
He attributed the cause of the accident to speeding and over loading.
He called on motorists to always shun night travelling, speeding and over loading, adding that the fatality would have reduced if the drivers were not on night journey.
