Sanwo-Olu visits victims, Aina Oreoluwa Juliana, Esther Rokosu and Victoria Johnson, who died in BRT staff bus which collided with train at Ikeja along – Oshodi, Lagos state.
The Lagos State Government on Friday explained why the ill-fated staff bus, which collided with a train at the Shogunle axis of the state leading to the death of six persons, was overloaded.
It said the bus had to take more than its capacity because the cash crisis forced many workers to opt for the free bus.
Tragedy struck around 8am on Thursday when the driver of the staff bus ignored signals from the officials of the Nigerian Railway Corporation and drove into the rail track when a train was fast approaching. The bus driver overtook vehicles waiting for the train to pass and was hit by the passenger train before it could cross the track.
The state Head of Service, Mr Hakeem Muri-Okunola, while fielding questions from journalists at the hospital on Friday, said the scarcity of the new naira made more people opt for the free transportation provided by the state government.
Muri-Okunola said, “About the capacity of the bus, its capacity is 85. I think the bus was filled to capacity because quite a number of people, due to the cash crunch situation, opted to go with the bus which was free of charge as opposed to commercial transportation. So, yes indeed the bus was moving at full capacity.”
A Lagos State Government Staff Bus with Number 33, carrying civil servants and some dependants from Isolo to Alausa had a head-on collision with a commercial train at PWD Bus-Stop, along Agege Motor Road, in the State on Thursday.
The accident occurred when the Lagos State Government staff bus was about to cross the rail track and during the process, it collided with a commercial train at the location. Six of the 85 passengers on the bus died while 79 civil servants and their dependants on the bus sustained varying degrees of injuries.
Governor Sanwo-Olu who was received by the three families he visited in Jakande Estate, Oke Afa, and Ikotun areas of Lagos State, commiserated with the bereaved families and prayed for them over their irreplaceable losses.
The Governor visited the families of Esther Rokosu, a staff of Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), and 54-year-old Mrs. Victoria Johnson nee Dada, a Social Welfare Officer of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
He also paid a condolence visit to the home of a Youth Corps member, Miss Aina Oreoluwa Juliana, who was serving in the Ministry of Education before her untimely death.
During the visit, prayers were offered for the deceased families, various ministries, and the Lagos State Government.
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