A haulage truck loaded with two containers yesterday swerved sharply to avoid hitting a motorbike but rammed into a vehicle belonging to Eko Meat Van. The two heavy containers on the haulage truck tumbled on the Eko Meat Van vehicle, leaving the two occupants injured. However, one passerby died on the spot as a container crushed him to the ground.
The motorbike rider who precipitated the accident was said to be at high speed in a desperate effort to evade mobile policemen who were hot on his heels near Ikeja bus-stop on the bustlingly busy Lagos-Abeokuta Express road.
After the fatal accident, the policemen attempted to take the wounded occupants of the Eko Meat van to their station, but emergency rescue officials at the scene prevented them, insisting that the injured men should instead be taken to
the hospital. An eyewitness told that the police officers wanted to take the injured to their station in order to cow them into not exposing how the reckless police chase helped trigger the tragedy.
The accident resulted in a horrific traffic snarl, which led to a virtual standstill of vehicles on all connecting routes, extending to Maryland and Yaba areas of Lagos mainland. Officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) worked several hours to evacuate the trucks.
Eyewitnesses said the dead victim was an employee of the popular phone and electronics store, SLOT, in Lagos. The Managing Director of LASEMA, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the remains of the dead victim had been deposited at a morgue in Lagos mainland. He added that the two injured occupants of the Eko Meat Van truck were receiving treatment at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
