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Tension in Lagos as trailer crushes school pupils, injures others

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There was tension in Lagos State on Tuesday afternoon after an accident involving a trailer killed an unconfirmed number of secondary school children and injured several others at the Grammar School Bus Stop, Along Ogba-Ojodu Berger Road of the state.

According to an eyewitness, the trailer driver was reportedly trying to escape traffic enforcement officers who had flagged him down following a traffic violation, when he ran into the school children, crushing them to death.

The eyewitness said about 17 students were killed by the trailer including three pupils of the same parents.

“Road safety officials were the ones chasing the truck driver and while he was trying to escape, he lost control of the truck and eventually crushed the students who were coming from school.

“The driver escaped at first but he was later apprehended at Aguda area and he was brought back to the police station.

“When some persons who were protesting in the area discovered that the truck driver was in the police station, they asked for the man to be released to the crowd, but the security operatives refused.

“This led to the destruction of properties and an attempt to attack the police station. However, the RRS operatives were called in and the protesters have been dispersed.

“The parents of some of the children who were killed also came around and they have been crying,” the witness said.

READ ALSO: Trailer crushes Army officer to death in Ogun

Meanwhile, some of those said to be affected by the accident were students of the Babs Fafunwa Millennium Senior Secondary School in the area, where the Ojodu Police Station is also located.

Also, Ripples Nigeria gathered that other victims of the accident were pupils of the Omole Primary School in the Omole area of the state.

Angered by the incident, students of nearby secondary schools and some residents blocked the road and pursued the trailer up to the Ogba area where the driver was apprehended, and the trailer set ablaze.

Meanwhile, the Lagos Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has denied the involvement of its officials in the incident.

Olabisi Sonusi of the FRSC Lagos Command, in a statement, said 14 persons involved in the incident were taken to the hospital.

The statement read, “An articulated truck was said to have lost control at Grammar School Bus stop along Ogunnusi road, Lagos today Tuesday 7th December 2021 which caused the death of an unverified number of students and leaving many injured,” the statement reads.

“The men of FRSC were called upon by passerby to help intervene after the crash had happened. About seven (7) of the victims were rescued and immediately taken to Lagos State Emergency Centre Ojota by FRSC personnel while another road user helped in carrying about seven (7) also to the same emergency centre.

“The general public should disregard the disgruntled information been circulated by some unscrupulous element that FRSC men caused the crash. We want to place on record that our men were not in any way involved in the cause of the crash as patrol activities were not ongoing along that axis as at the time of the crash.”

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