Pregnant woman, 19 others cheat death in tanker crash

No fewer than 20 persons, including a pregnant woman, escaped death by a whisker on Wednesday after a petrol-laden tanker rammed into five vehicles on the Otedola Bridge, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Lagos State.

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.

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, who claimed to be heading for Abeokuta, 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.

Another victim, Olatubosun Fayemi, said he jumped out of his crushed vehicle and ran away.

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.”