By Charles Adegbite
Eleven passengers were yesterday burnt to death when a commercial bus, popularly called Danfo, summersaulted and caught fire along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, near MKO Abiola Garden and Otedola Bridge before Berger Bus Stop, Lagos State.
According to eyewitnesses, three other passengers, one of them identified as a medical doctor, however escaped through the window of the bus.
The incident occurred at about 6:00pm when the front tyre of the bus, painted in Lagos colour, suddenly burst.
The driver was said to have applied brake suddenly and consequently the bus summersaulted, then fell on its right side and caught fire.
Nobody could ascertain whether it carried fuel because everybody trapped in the bus were burnt beyond recognition.
Men and officers of the Lagos State Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the police and LASEMA were on hand to remove the remains of the victims and the bus out of the road.
Lagos Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr. Hyginus Umeje, also confirmed that his men deposited 11 corpses at the morgue.
He, however, disclosed that the driver, his conductor and a passenger rescued by his team were taken to the state Accident and Emergency Centre, Toll Gate, Ojota, for treatment.