Tunde Ajaja
At least three persons were burnt to death in a fire accident involving a tanker and three other vehicles on Kara Bridge on the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway in the early hours of Wednesday.
The incident had however resulted in heavy gridlock on the Berger side of the expressway, with many motorists and commuters stranded as no vehicle could go through the bridge outward Lagos.
While the three persons were burnt beyond recognition and their remains in the care of the security agencies, our correspondent also saw a burnt corpse floating on the Ogun River under the bridge.
It was gathered that the fire started around 3am when a truck carrying goods lost its brake and ran into a tanker, which ignited the fire and engulfed two other trucks and a Toyota Corolla saloon car in flames.
But the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, in a statement, said the incident occurred at about 3.08am when the tanker carrying 33,000 litres of diesel ran into a truck carrying brewery products at high speed, and then caught fire.
It said the tanker, two container-carrying trucks and one Toyota Corolla saloon car were burnt in the accident.
The statement partly read, “The driver was said to have abruptly applied brake at the Kara Bridge outward Lagos resulting in multiple accident and fire outbreak with colossal loss.”
Meanwhile, an eyewitness and owner of the burnt saloon car, told our correspondent at the venue of the incident that he was coming from work when he ran into traffic on the bridge.
He explained that the traffic eased a bit when a truck coming from the rear brushed his vehicle by the side and rammed into a tanker, leading to the fire.
“That was how other vehicles, including mine caught fire, and till now I still don’t know how I escaped because the fire was unlike no other,” he added.
Some vehicle owners stuck in the traffic were also seen to be thoroughly frustrated by the development, while many had switched off their engines.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency, South-west zone, Ibrahim Farinloye, advised motorists to take alternative routes pending the time the debris occasioned by the fire would be cleared.
– punch
