Nigerian authorities
say 20 people were killed over the weekend following two truck-related road
accidents.
According to
authorities, in one of the accidents, the truck, carrying a 12-meter-long
(39-feet-long) container, was traveling on a bridge when the driver lost
control and collided with the bus while it was picking up passengers. The
container fell onto the bus, crushing those on board.
Five men, two women and
two children were among the dead.
The Lagos State Traffic
Management Authority, or LASTMA, Sunday said it rescued four people after hours
of operations at Ojuelegba in the southwestern part of the state.
Olufemi
Oke-Osanyintolu, the permanent secretary of LASTMA, said that "We've completed
the operations. We have put the dead bodies in the mortuary and the other one
that was rescued has been evacuated to the hospital where she's receiving
adequate treatment. We're going to look at it holistically; we're going to
carry out investigations."
Oke-Osanyintolu said
overhead barricades mounted by authorities at the foot of the bridge to prevent
trucks from ascending the span had been removed.
He said the police will
further investigate the matter.
Such accidents are
common in Nigeria's economic hub where truck drivers mandated to strap down
containers on their vehicles rarely do so and many roads are in poor condition.
In a separate incident,
authorities say 11 people were killed at the Soka bridge on the Lagos-Benin Highway
when a truck driving against traffic collided with another commercial bus.
Last year, LASTMA
recorded more than 100 truck and tanker accidents between January and July.
The accidents often
spark outrage and criticism of the government's inability to monitor and
regulate the movement of heavy-duty vehicles crisscrossing often crowded
locations in the state.
On Sunday, citizens
called on authorities to ban the movement of trucks during the day, but
Oke-Osanyintolu said that could harm economic activities, and that the
government will look for a better way forward
VOA
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