According to short information about the accident posted on its X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday morning, in the multiple road crash, a heavy-duty truck and a container-laden trailer went up in flames.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has confirmed the death of eight people in a multiple heavy-duty truck accident that occurred in the Mowe area of the state.
According to short information about the accident posted on its X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday morning, in the multiple road crash, a heavy-duty truck and a container-laden trailer went up in flames.
“Another truck spilling its contents (cartons of biscuits) on the road, a container-laden truck ran onto the barrier with its carrier falling off the bridge into the river, thereby blocking the entire road at Kara Bridge inward Mowe.”
Confirming the number of victims in the accident, LASTMA said, “Eight casualties recorded,” adding, “Effort is on top gear for recovery and evacuation of the vehicles involved.
“Traffic backlog on Ogunnusi Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Officers and other emergency first responders are on the ground.”
It was gathered that a police officer, an assistant to one of the drivers, and two other people died, while a ‘motorboy’ and one other person were injured in the accident.
The Commissioner of Police, Olorundare Jimoh, said five articulated vehicles were involved in the accident.
Also, an accident occurred in front of Ahmadiya Hospital in the Ojokoro, Ifako-Ijaiye area of Lagos on Thursday morning.
According to witnesses, a woman driving her children to school crashed into an abandoned Cross-Median at the centre of the Lagos/Sango expressway.
Human rights activist and National Secretary of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Francis Nwapa, who also confirmed the accident to SaharaReporters, said the woman’s two daughters in the car sustained injuries and were bleeding from the nose and mouth, but were rushed to Ahmadiya hospital, where they are receiving treatment.
Condemning the cause of the accident, Nwapa said, “This accident was avoidable. This could have been avoided if the contactor had not abandoned the cross-median at the center of the road.
“Those contractors who get road construction from the government carry out this construction without supervision by the appropriate regulatory authorities.”
Nwapa added, “We call on the Lagos State government to ensure this contractor is sanctioned and compensation for victims of similar accidents on this road, and also immediately remove these abandoned cross-road medians on the road.”
According to Nwapa, the government should stop the road construction contract scheme and adequately fund the Ministry of Works to carry out road construction.
“The Ministry should be adequately funded, controlled, and managed by workers with the involvement of community representatives to oversee every construction,” Nwapa said.
“The contract scheme only breeds corruption, inefficiency, and siphoning of public resources,” he added.