By: Sunday Ameh
At least eight people, including a police officer, have been confirmed dead in a multiple-truck accident that occurred in the Mowe axis of the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway on Thursday morning.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), in a statement posted on its official X (formerly Twitter) account, said the accident involved several articulated trucks, one of which exploded after crashing, while another plunged off the Kara Bridge into the river.
“Eight casualties recorded. Effort is on top gear for recovery and evacuation of the vehicles involved,” LASTMA announced, adding that officers and emergency responders were on site.
According to preliminary information, a heavy-duty truck, a container-laden trailer, and other long vehicles were involved, with one truck spilling cartons of biscuits across the expressway and another truck’s carrier detaching and falling off the bridge.
Witnesses said the inferno that followed caused panic among motorists and commuters, forcing a total shutdown of the busy corridor and creating massive traffic gridlock stretching through Ogunnusi Road and the Lagos outbound lanes of the expressway.
Police Commissioner Olorundare Jimoh confirmed the incident, noting that five articulated vehicles were involved in total. He said a police officer and an assistant attached to one of the truck drivers died at the scene, alongside other victims.
Two individuals, including a truck “motor boy,” reportedly sustained injuries and were rushed to the hospital.
In a separate incident Thursday morning, a woman driving her children to school crashed into an abandoned concrete median in front of Ahmadiya Hospital, Ojokoro, Ifako-Ijaiye.
Human rights activist and National Secretary of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Francis Nwapa, confirmed the incident, saying the woman’s two daughters sustained serious injuries and were bleeding from the nose and mouth before being rushed into the hospital for treatment.
Nwapa blamed negligence by contractors handling road projects for the crash.
“This accident was avoidable. The contractor abandoned the cross-median without supervision from authorities,” he said.
He called on the Lagos State Government to sanction the contractor, remove the abandoned barriers, and compensate victims of similar incidents.
“The contract scheme only breeds corruption, inefficiency, and siphoning of public resources. Fund the Ministry of Works directly and allow community oversight,” he added.
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