Three, yet to be identified members of the same family, father, mother and their young child were recovered dead in the early hours of yesterday, in a multi auto crash, involving four vehicles at Lagos State Secretariat, inward Otedola Bridge, along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway.
Men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, it was gathered, responded and rescued two persons, though they sustained various degrees of injuries.
The General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, confirmed the incident.
The tragic accident, it was learned, claimed the lives of the same family, while two other victims sustained critical injuries.
Preliminary investigations, according to LASTMA revealed that the incident involved three vehicles, an Audi, Toyota Camry and Toyota Corolla, and happened when a heavily loaded truck travelling on top speed violently struck one of the vehicles from the rear.
The impact resulted in the vehicle losing control, and incidentally collided with two moving vehicles thereby ending in the fatal chain-reaction accident.
Apparently to avoid being lynched by mob, the truck driver, it was learned absconded from the scene with his vehicle, leaving the victims in pain, thereby evaded arrest.
LASTMA operatives, Vanguard arrived at the scene and coordinated with allied emergency agencies to rescue survivors and recover the deceased.
Two critically injured victims trapped under the wreckage were carefully extricated and conveyed by the Lagos State Ambulance Service, LASAMBUS, for urgent medical attention, Vanguard gathered.
The surviving injured victims were rushed to the Lagos State Emergency and Trauma Centre, Toll-Gate to receive comprehensive medical care.
Bakare-Oki expressed sorrow over what he described as the “unbearable and irreplaceable loss of an entire family.”
While lamenting the preventable nature of the incident, Bakare-Oki reiterated LASTMA’s warning against reckless speeding particularly by drivers of articulated and heavily loaded trucks.
He warned that excessive speed remains one of the most lethal contributors to road fatalities and urged motorists to exercise extreme caution, adhere strictly to speed regulations and cultivate defensive driving practices along highways.
Vanguard news
