Two persons were confirmed dead, while several others were injured after two petrol-laden tankers went up in flames at the Kara Bridge end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Sunday.
The accident also involved a truck conveying Compressed Natural Gas and a Dangote Cement truck.
The vehicles were travelling out of Lagos when the driver of one of the petrol-laden tankers lost control while trying to overtake the other tanker.
It was gathered that one of the tankers crashed into the cement and the CNG trucks.
According to reports, the drivers of the petrol tankers died in the explosions that followed around 1am.
The multiple explosions left commuters and motorists stranded for several hours on the road as nobody could move near the raging inferno.
An eyewitness, who identified himself simply as Taofeek, said he was sleeping under the bridge when he heard a loud noise from the explosions.
He said, “Around 1am, we heard a loud noise and when we came out, we saw tankers burning; one of the drivers could not come out of the vehicle, so he was burnt.
“We learnt that one of the tanker drivers was trying to overtake another tanker in the gridlock, but the other driver didn’t allow him to go and as he was trying to negotiate back to the former position, the driver lost control and rammed into the Dangote Cement truck in front of it, which also rammed into the gas truck.
“This accident was caused by the police, who were enforcing compliance with the lockdown order in Ogun State. They were collecting bribes from motorists, thereby causing the gridlock on the road. It was another driver moving against the traffic, informed the policemen that some trucks were burning; so, they had to remove the barricades on the road so that there could be free flow of traffic.”
Another eyewitness, Tosin Olalere, stated, “The petrol tankers were on top speed from Lagos and when they were about to get to where the traffic had built up, one of the drivers tried to overtake the other, who didn’t allow him to do so; so the first tanker rammed into the Dangote Cement truck and immediately fire started from the tanker and the two tanker drivers could not escape, but the driver of the Dangote truck jumped down from the bridge.”
The driver of the CNG truck, Yusuf Tiamiyu, told reporters that he was inside his vehicle and waiting for the curfew to be over when he heard a loud noise from behind.
He said, “I was about to go and sleep inside the tractor that I used to sleep in when the driver of one of the tankers lost control and hit the Dangote truck behind my truck and that one in turn rammed into my truck. Both petrol tankers and my vehicle were fully loaded.
“I had to endanger my life by entering into the truck just to drive it away from the exploding tankers so that the impact would not be too much, but I couldn’t move far, because at a point, the gear of the truck stopped working, so I had to jump out and save my life.
“A lot of money has been lost to the explosions and if not for the lockdown, this accident would not have happened.”
The emergency responders at the scene were the National Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Federal Fire Service, Lagos State Fire Service, Ogun State Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, the police and the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps.
Speaking at the scene of the incident, the Director-General, LASEMA, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the crash was caused by recklessness on the part of the tanker drivers.
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