2 passengers flung into Lagos lagoon

LAGOS—An auto crash occurred, yesterday, on the Third Mainland bridge, Lagos, in which two passengers were flung into the lagoon.

2 passengers flung into Lagos lagoon

The 18-seater LT bus with the number plate, FKJ 872 YA, was heading toward Lagos Island when the tragedy struck, at the Adeniyi Adele end of the bridge.

The unidentified driver, said to have been driving at high speed, suddenly veered off his lane. He was unable to control the vehicle and hit the bridge rail.

The impact of the hit flung two passengers, a male and a female, into the lagoon. But the slab by the bridge rail forced the bus to an abrupt halt. Many passengers sustained injuries.

Local divers and fishermen around the lagoon were said to have arrived at the scene in search of the passengers who plunged into it.

Policemen of the Marine Police joined them. But the passengers were not found.

One of the injured passengers, Akeem Abiodun, told Vanguard that he was on his way to his family house on the Island.

He said: “I thank God that I am alive. I am having body pains. I was seated at the last row, by the window. I didn’t know what happened because I was sleeping. It was the sharp pain on my head and the shout of other passengers that woke me. When I opened my eyes, they were rushing out of the bus. I managed to get out and was told that two passengers fell inside the lagoon.”

South West Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Authority, NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, who was with the team said: “What the teams of Policemen from the Marine Police are doing is no longer search and rescue because we were told that the male passenger that was flung into the lagoon jumped two to three times and was not seen, while the woman did not come up at all. So, what we are trying to do now is recovery.

“We will not leave the scene until the recovery is made. We are deploying more local divers who know the terrain.”

He stated that the crashed vehicle had been towed to the Adeniji Adele Police State, adding that most of the passengers in the bus dropped off on the way to the hospital but that only one of them was at the General Hospital Odan, Lagos, while another decided to go to his company’s hospital for treatment.

Also, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, said its officials rescued the 18 injured passengers in the bus.