An 18-seater commercial bus burst into flames yesterday evening between Toyota and Five Star bus stop on Oshodi-Apapa expressway. Though no life was lost, the incident compounded the traffic gridlock along the route.
An eyewitness told The Guardian that the bus was carrying some passengers and generating sets when the engine caught fire. It was gathered that the driver and passengers alighted from the bus and ran for their dear lives.
When The Guardian visited the scene, another eyewitness told our reporter that the bus had been burning for more than 50 minutes, while a fire service station few meters away from the scene could not respond to stop the fire from igniting other vehicles. Many road users wondered why the fire fighters did not respond on time.
Policemen were, however, seen at the scene, trying to control the gridlock and forestall secondary incident that may occur. The development led to serious traffic as road users were stuck in the traffic and were afraid to pass by the burning bus.
Another eyewitness blamed the driver for not having a fire extinguisher in the bus. According to her, if the driver had fire extinguisher, it would have prevented the bus from burning.
When The Guardian reporter was about leaving the scene, men of the fire fighters were later seen trying to put out the fire after more than one hour since the fire started.
Source: Guardian
