Two people have sustained severe burn injuries after a diesel tanker fell off Otedola Bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and burst into flames beneath the bridge.
The incident triggered a major emergency response on Monday, as firefighters and other emergency personnel worked to contain the blaze and rescue the victims.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday evening through its Director of Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, Adebayo Taofiq.
According to the agency, the tanker crash resulted in an intense fire beneath the bridge, leaving two people with extensive burn injuries.
LASTMA said its emergency response team, working alongside other relevant agencies, swiftly rescued the victims from the affected area and facilitated their evacuation for medical treatment.
The victims were subsequently transported by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency’s Rescue Unit to the Lagos State Accident and Emergency Centre at the Toll Gate, where they were admitted for urgent medical attention.
The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service also deployed personnel to battle the inferno, prevent the fire from spreading and minimise further casualties and damage to nearby infrastructure.
Other agencies involved in the rescue and containment operation included the LASEMA Rescue Unit, Federal Road Safety Corps, Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency and police officers from the Alausa Police Division.
The fire disrupted traffic along the busy expressway, forcing motorists to seek alternative routes to avoid the affected section and resulting in congestion around the bridge.
The incident adds to a series of road crashes and tanker-related accidents recorded along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, a major transport corridor connecting Lagos with several parts of southern Nigeria.
In a related incident, a 33,000-litre tanker recently overturned at Ojota Bridge in Lagos, about seven kilometres from Otedola Bridge, spilling its load of groundnut oil onto the road. Authorities suspected brake failure as the cause of that accident.
