Three die, five injured in Ijebu Ode/Benin Expressway accident; four injured as articulated vehicles collide on Enugu-Onitsha Expressway

Three persons were confirmed dead while five others sustained injuries in an accident involving a Toyota Sienna and Toyota Previa at J3 Junction, Ogbere on Ijebu Ode/Benin Expressway.
Mr Babatunde Akinbiyi, Spokesman for Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) in Ogun, confirmed the incident on Wednesday in Abeokuta.
Akinbiyi said that the accident, which occurred about 9:33 a.m on Wednesday, was caused by dangerous driving.
“We learnt that a Preavia bus marked XD 871 KEY coming from Benin and a Sienna with registration number BDG 48 XX  coming from Ijebu-Ode were involved in an accident.
“There were nine passengers in the Previea and six in the Sienna, both were commercial vehicles.
“The accident was caused by the driver of the Sienna, in an attempt to make a u-turn, skidded off his lane and rammed into the on coming Previea.
“The accident claimed the lives of three passengers in the Sienna on the spot.
“Five others were injured, three of the injured passengers were in the Sienna, while two were in the Previea,’’ he said.
Akinbiyi said that the injured victims were taken to Ise Oluwa Clinic in Ogbere, while  the corpses of the dead were deposited at the morgue in Ijebu Ode General Hospital. 
Meanwhile, a head-on collision involving articulated vehicles that occurred on Wednesday on the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway at Amansea near Awka, Anambra, has left one unconscious and three others injured.
An eye witnesses, Mr Christopher Onuorah, said that the driver of the articulated vehicle heading toward Onitsha, which had no number plate, was to be blamed for the accident.
Also Moses Ajilore, a Police Officer escorting the articulated vehicle heading toward Enugu, with number plate AKD 09XR, said his driver was forced out of the single lane section of the expressway by the other driver.
“As you can see, our vehicle was driven out of the way by this other one that was overtaking on high speed, which made our driver to veer off the road yet we got hit,” he said.
Onuorah in apportioning his blame stated that the driver of the vehicle heading to Onitsha drove without consideration for other road users.
“The driver of the vehicle heading to Onitsha has to be blamed for his reckless driving when he knew that it was a single lane that was in use at this section.
“You can see that his reckless driving forced the other driver out of the road yet his vehicle collided with the other truck,” he said.
IC Chiezie, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Head of the Team that evacuated the injured, said the accident could have been avoided.
“It is a result of over speeding and overtaking on a single lane expressway which could have been avoided had the culprit driven with care.
“For now what is paramount for us is to rush the injured to hospital for treatment before looking into the matter,” he said. 
Passersby used axes and other objects in dismantling the vehicles for the injured to be evacuated.