No fewer than 10 persons were on Thursday morning reported dead after they were burnt to death in a tanker explosion at the Sagamu Interchange, in front of a Conoil Filling Station, Mowe along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
According to reports, five vehicles were also burnt in the inferno.
The unfortunate incident was reported to have occurred when the driver of a speeding Iveco truck lost control and rammed into a stationed tanker loaded with Premium Motor Spirit popularly known as petrol, and it exploded.
Traffic reports from the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps indicated that other vehicles caught up in the explosion were a Mazda commercial bus and two other trucks, one of them was loaded with fuel.
In the meantime, all the vehicles involved in the multiple accidents were travelling outbound Lagos.
The Public Relations Officer, TRACE, Mr Babatunde Akinbiyi said the accident occurred at 5.15 am and those who were consumed in the raging fire were seven passengers in the commercial bus, while the three others were in the trucks.
In his words: “Ten (10) people were confirmed to be involved in the avoidable fatal crash and the ten (10) were burnt to death and beyond recognition, and their remains had been deposited in the morgue of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Ogun State”.
Akinbiyi has, however, said that normalcy has been restored along the route by the combined efforts of the rescue team comprising TRACE, Police, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Ogun State Fire Service.
While commiserating with the families of the deceased, TRACE warned drivers of articulated vehicles to maintain and service their vehicles as and when due and avoid speeding, given its attendant consequences.