A commuter train has crushed a shoe merchant, Christopher Ngobidi , to death , while his son, Arinze , is fighting for his life in a hospital . The incident happened on Monday around the Nigerian Army Shopping Arena , Oshodi , Lagos State .
PUNCH Metro learnt that the train had earlier collided with a white Ford Ecoline 250 bus with number plate , GGE 972 GE , at the PWD area .
The train , while pulling the Ford vehicle , got to the Army Shopping Arena , where Ngobidi parked his Toyota Highlander on the rail tracks .
It was gathered that the Anambra State indigene, a trader at the Arena , was waiting for the gate of the shopping mall to open when he saw the approaching train .
Our correspondents learnt that Ngobidi raced to the vehicle to rescue his son, who was sleeping in the vehicle , but was crushed to death by the train .
However , one of our correspondents , during a visit to the scene of the incident and the shop of the deceased , observed that many stalls around the deceased ’ s shop were locked .
A witness , Hezekiah Adekanmi , said , “ The man parked on the rail track while he was waiting for the Arena gate to be opened. While the train was coming with a bus that it had earlier hit , it started honking . But the man , who was not in the car, remembered that his son was inside the vehicle and he ran to rescue him .
“ Before he could come out of the vehicle , they were hit by the train and pushed inside a gutter . The man died immediately , while his son was injured. The train still dragged the bus to the Oshodi under bridge before it stopped. ”
One of the shop owners around Ngobidi’ s shop, Efechukwu Udeh , who described the deceased as a nice man , lamented that he would be sorely missed.
He said , “ Christopher ( Ngobidi) was my neighbour in this market and he was nice to everybody .
“ The man attempted to rescue his son who was sleeping inside the vehicle when the train crushed him , while his son was injured. The boy is unconscious at the hospital. Christopher ’ s wife called me this morning to ask after the husband , but I had to lie to her that he had not got to the market yet because I don’ t know what to tell her . ”
The Head of Public Affairs of LASEMA , Nosa Okunbor, said the agency received a distress call to the scene around 8 am .
He said , “ Upon arrival at the scene , it was discovered that a white bus, with number plate GGE 972 GE , veered onto the rail tracks while crossing the railway line at the PWD inward Oshodi and subsequently collided with a scheduled commuter train .
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