Truck falls from Lagos bridge on two buses

Truck falls from Lagos bridge on two buses

A fully loaded truck, with registration number GGE 624 YJ, fell off the Pen Cinema Bridge in Lagos on Saturday, landing on two commercial buses.

Officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority rescued the severely-injured driver of the truck and rushed him to the hospital.

General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, confirmed this in a statement on Saturday.

The statement was signed by Taofiq Adebayo, Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, LASTMA.

According to Bakare-Oki, the accident occurred on Old Abeokuta Road, Agege, and involved the truck and two painted commercial Volkswagen buses.

He said that LASTMA officers responded swiftly and successfully extricated the severely-injured driver and immediately entrusted him to officers of the Elere Police Division.

He added that the driver was subsequently conveyed to the General Hospital at Ile-Epo for urgent medical attention.

He said, “Preliminary inquiries suggest that the truck driver, who suffered grievous fractures to both hands, lost control of the vehicle while navigating the Pen Cinema Bridge.

“Consequently, the truck plunged from the bridge, landing on the two commercial buses stationed beneath.”

The LASTMA boss said that in a bid to safeguard other road users and forestall secondary incidents, the authority’s personnel swiftly secured the accident site by cordoning off the area and diverting vehicular traffic.

Bakare-Oki added, “Thereafter, operatives of the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority Response Unit expeditiously cleared the wreckage, thereby restoring unimpeded traffic flow along the axis.”

He advised motorists, particularly truck operators, to exhibit high level of vigilance and circumspection, especially as the rainy season sets in.

He also urged strict compliance with road safety protocols, and that drivers should use the newly-installed speed-limiting devices, a measure deployed to curb accidents and promote collective road safety.