Tragedy At Otedola Bridge, Third Mainland Bridge as Fatal Accidents Claim Two Lives
Two separate road accidents in Lagos during the early hours of Monday have left two people dead and two others critically injured.
In a statement, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, General Manager of LASTMA, said the first incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. at the Otedola Bridge, along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway toward Berger.
He said that preliminary reports indicate that an unregistered vehicle, carrying two people including the driver, collided violently with a heavily-laden trailer. The force of the crash caused the instantaneous death of both occupants. Shockingly, the trailer driver reportedly fled the scene following the collision.
LASTMA’s Night-Gang Teams, deployed for overnight traffic surveillance, responded swiftly to the scene, evacuating the victims and clearing the wreckage from the expressway to prevent further accidents.
Officers from the Isheri Police Division and the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SHEMU) later oversaw the safe removal of the remains according to emergency protocols.
In a separate crash at approximately 5:00 a.m., near the UNILAG waterfront on the Third Mainland Bridge heading toward Lagos Island, an empty tanker collided with a pure-water distribution van (SMK 67 XH).
The accident left two individuals with severe injuries, who were stabilised on-site by the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) before being rushed to a nearby hospital for critical treatment.
Despite these catastrophic incidents, LASTMA said its personnel maintained traffic regulation across both corridors, preventing further disruptions and ensuring motorist safety.
Bakare-Oki expressed condolences to the families affected by the tragedies and decried the loss of life as “wholly preventable,” citing reckless speeding and disregard for road safety rules as major contributing factors.
He emphasised that strict adherence to government-mandated speed limits is essential for safeguarding lives and avoiding avoidable tragedies.
