Tragedy in Lagos as train crushes tricycle rider, three passengers

Four persons were yesterday killed when a passenger train crushed a tricycle at the Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos.

The dead comprised a tricycle rider and three passengers on board his vehicle. The fourth passenger, Eko Trust learnt, escaped unhurt.

It was learnt that the rider had attempted to dash across the rail line with the tricycle when the train rammed into it, killing four of the five persons on board.

A witness, who simply gave her name as Aduke, said the train dragged the tricycle to some distance from the accident spot before it came to a halt, leaving on the tracks a gory scene of mangled bodies.

Aduke said that the tricycle rider had loaded its passengers from Abule Egba and was heading to Agege when the accident occurred.

“The rider made a frantic attempt to quickly manoeuvre the tricycle across the tracks as the train bore down on him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t as the train, heading to Ogun State with its early morning passengers, caught up with him. It was a bloody sight as the bodies of he and the passengers were scattered along the rail track,” she added.

The General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Adesina Tiamiyu, who confirmed the incident, put the immediate cause of the incident as reckless driving on the part of the tricycle driver in his haste to cross the rail tracks.

“Unfortunately, four persons - three adult males and one adult female - lost their lives. One adult male escaped unhurt,” Tiamiyu said.