Container Falls on Tricycle in Ijora, Kills Police Officer and Female Passenger

An unidentified police officer and a female passenger have been confirmed to have died after a truck conveying a container fell on their commercial tricycle popularly called Keke Napep in Ijora axis of Lagos State.

Meanwhile, two additional victims, including the tricycle operator, were rescued by the officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), though they sustained severe leg fractures during the accident that occurred under the Ijora bridge.

The accident occurred on Tuesday inward Ijora 7Up, when the Apple fully laden 40-foot container truck with number plate XP 368 AKD overturned upon a commercial tricycle with number plate KJA 364 QN conveying passengers.

The General Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Olalekan Bakare-Oki, who confirmed the auto crash, disclosed that the injured victims were rushed by the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) to Jimsan Hospital, Gasikiya, Ijora, for urgent medical intervention.

Bakare-Oki, in a statement released by the Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA, Adebayo Taofiq, cautioned truck operators and articulated vehicle drivers to exercise to adhere strictly to safety measures, particularly when negotiating bridges, intersections, and densely trafficked corridors, so as to avert the recurrence of such calamitous incidents.

According to the statement, “Preliminary findings indicate that the articulated vehicle, while attempting a precarious maneuver beneath the Ijora Bridge, lost control and consequently capsized, fatally crushing on to a tricycle in its path. Regrettably, two passengers among them a serving Police Officer were killed instantly.

“The remains of the deceased Police Officer were subsequently conveyed to a morgue at Yaba by security operatives, while grief-stricken relatives of the second victim, a female passenger, hastened to the scene to retrieve the remains of their loved one.

“The injured were expeditiously transported by the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) to Jimsan Hospital, Gasikiya, Ijora, for urgent medical intervention.

“To avert a descent into chaos, combined detachments of security personnel drawn from Badia, Trinity, and Kirikiri Police Divisions established robust security cordons. Their decisive presence pacified irate onlookers, who had attempted to set the containerized truck ablaze, and safeguarded the emergency responders throughout the duration of the rescue operations”.