No fewer than three people were on Wednesday lost their lives in a multiple auto crashes involving five articulated trucks, a vehicle, while many property worth millions of Naira were destroyed.
Our correspondent learnt that the vehicular traffic congestion experienced by motorists and commuters for a better part of the day was caused by tanker explosion on the ever busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
It was also gathered that another incident in which a tanker somersaulted while on high speed at the Otedola end of the express road, injuring two unidentified persons compounded the traffic congestion on the road.
Witnesses said, the tanker fully laden with 33,000 litres of diesel products suddenly developed a brake failure and in the process wobbled and rammed into another truck carrying alcoholic content at the Kara end of the expressway.
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The witness explained that the driver driving an Ibadan bound vehicle was over speeding before the mechanical fault occurred, saying efforts to apply the brake at the Kara Bridge yielded no good result.
According to David one of the eye witnesses, the tanker caught fire immediately it ran into another truck transporting brewery products outward Lagos.
Commuters and Motorists said the explosion would have escalated were it not for the intervention of the Lagos State Emergency Response Team (ERT) which includes Lagos State Fire Service, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and Nigerian Police and Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, prevented the fire from spreading beyond the location.
The team it was learnt put out the fire and cordoned the road to avoid further loss and casualties on the road.
Speaking about the accident General Manager Lagos State Emergency management Agency, (LASEMA), Mr. Adesina Tiamiyu, Director of the State fire service, Rasak Fadipe and FRSC Head media relations and strategy, Bisi Kazeem, confirmed that three persons died in the explosion and that six vehicles were burnt after the explosion.
Tiamiyu explained that “recovery operations of accidental burnt truck with the aid of LASEMA heavy duty equipment presently ongoing so as to abate traffic gridlock which has built up on the Lagos Ibadan Express way.
“Also burnt carcass are also been cleared off the road so as to restore normalcy. Traffic has affected almost every part of the expressway and Ikorodu road on to Alapere and Ogudu.”
He appealed to motorist especially articulated truck drivers to avoid over-speeding and adhere to safety regulations while plying the road in order to forestall avoidable disasters.
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