Some eyewitnesses have declared that the Nigeria Police Force and Federal Roads Safety Commission, FRSC, lied over the casualty figures issued on the petrol tanker fire that occurred on Thursday.
The two government agencies had given the casualty figures of the incident which occurred on Otedola Bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as 9 persons and 54 vehicles.
“We have counted 54 burnt vehicles. Four people, who were rescued, are in the emergency unit and about nine bodies have been recovered,” the Lagos State Sector Commander of FRSC, Hygenus Omege, had said.
However, eyewitnesses have countered the claim of the two agencies, saying the persons that died were far more than the number given.
The eyewitnesses said although they could not give accurate figures, well over 20 people died in the inferno.
Some of the eyewitnesses who spoke with The Next Edition correspondent at the scene of the accident included two persons who simply identified themselves as Gloria and Tope.
Speaking with our correspondent, Gloria said she witnessed the burning of a school bus and more than nine persons were in it.
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According to her, that was apart from others in other vehicles burnt to ashes.
“If 54 vehicles were burnt, how come only nine people died? The children in a school bus were more than nine. Apart from the children in the school bus, others died. How would anyone say it is just nine,” she said.
Supporting the claim, another eyewitness, Tope, said he could not count the number of people burnt to death.
They were so many that he could not count, he said.
His words: “I heard a loud bang and rushed outside. There was chaos everywhere. People were running helter-skelter. I saw many dead bodies. I cannot even count. For the government to come out and say nine people died is not correct. That is not fair.”
He added: “This morning, one dead body was discovered. It was from a canal.”
