Two vehicles have plunged into a canal in front of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. The accidents brought to four, the number of such occurrences in the canal in the past three months.
A wine-colour Opel Omega occupied by three brothers plunged into the canal at about 9am on Monday. A Toyota Camry painted in ash colour fell into the canal on Sunday night.
The driver of the Camry was the only occupant. All the four people are alive.
The Opel Omega was marked JJN 583 AA and the Camry GGE 196 AR. The vehicles were both brought out of the water on Monday morning.
NAN gathered that the Camry took off from the National Theatre some seconds before it skidded off the road and plunged into the canal.
Mr Ifeanyi Stephen, an occupant of the Opel Omega, said that he took no notice of the canal.
He said, “We were driving and thinking that the road was straight because we are not conversant with this route.
“By the time we got there, we saw that the place was water-logged.”
We applied the brake but the car didn’t stop. That was how the car fell into the water.”
NAN observed that there were neither road signs warning motorists of the presence of the canal, nor barricades that could prevent vehicles and pedestrians from plunging into the canal.
An Officer of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority in charge of the area, Mr Ariyo Jimoh, confirmed the incidents to NAN.
He said, “The information we got is that the two vehicles ran into the canal. When we heard, we quickly sent our men to control traffic there.
“Two vehicles were involved, but there were no casualties.”
Meanwhile, motorists have appealed to the Lagos State Government to put barricades on both sides of the large canal to prevent such occurrences.
“The Ministry of Transport should put appropriate road signs in place,” Mr Lukman Aremu, who plies the route daily, said.