12 suffer burns as fire guts vehicle on 3rd Mainland Bridge

LAGOS — Twelve people suffered burns of varying degrees, yesterday, when an 18-seater bus somersaulted and caught  fire on the Third Mainland Bridge.

The victims were passengers of the Toyota Hiace commercial bus which was travelling towards Iyana-Oworo area.

Although no life was lost in the incident officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority had a hectic time before they could rescue the victims. Also, the incident caused a heavy gridlock on the ever busy bridge.

The LASTMA monitor in the area, Temitope Adebayo, said the incident occurred a little before 2. 00 p.m and the victims were moved to General Hospital, Gbagada for treatment.

He attributed the incident to overloading which led to a tyre blowout saying the back seat of the bus was loaded with goods apart from the fact that 14 passengers were on board.

‘’The incident involved a Toyota Hiace bus whose last seats were loaded with goods. Also, there were 14 passengers in the bus which had a burst tyre around Ilaje and as the driver attempted to stop, the vehicle upturned and burst into flames,’’ Adebayo said.

He, however, confirmed that no life was lost in the accident and appealed to motorists to always exercise caution, adding: “We had to break into the vehicle before the victims were rescued and 12 passengers were moved to General Hospital, Gbagada for treatment.”