A pregnant woman along with 19 others cheated death on Wednesday after a petrol-laden tanker rammed into five vehicles on the Otedola Bridge, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Lagos State.
The accident occurred at about 11am, bringing traffic flow to a halt on the ever busy highway, as well as the parallel into Jubilee Otedola and Omole Phase two estates.
Eyewitnesses said the petrol tanker rammed into the five vehicles which were held in a traffic caused by a long queue for fuel.
The vehicles involved in the crash were a 14-seater Volkswagen bus and four other cars.
It was learnt that the tanker was trying to negotiate its way on a narrow road left by motorists queuing at a nearby filling station when it lost control.
Firemen were immediately deployed to prevent an outbreak of fire.
A witness, Moses Emmanuel, who said his car narrowly escaped, said but for hawkers of sachet water and other dairy products on the expressway, who raised the alarm, the impact of the crash would have been more devastating.
He said the driver of the tanker fled the scene immediately the incident happened.
One of the victims, Samson Rufus said he was in the traffic when he heard the hawkers shouting, ‘fire, fire, run’.
“I was confused and could not run to anywhere. All I heard was a big bang on my vehicle. A pregnant woman, who was sitting at the back, was critically injured,” he said.
The Lagos State Fire Service Director, Rasaq Fadipe has however said the expectant mother was responding to treatment.
An official of the Federal Road Safety Corps at the scene blamed the crash on brake failure, adding that the injured had been moved to a hospital for medical attention.
The spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, SP Dolapo Badmos, said, “Three people got injured and were taken to the Lagos emergency unit at the tollgate area. The accident was caused by a fuel tanker with number plate, KMC 311 ZV.”