A tragedy occurred on the newly-rehabilitated 3rd Mainland Bridge on Wednesday, when a fully-loaded 20-seater commercial bus hit the railings, sending two passengers into the Lagoon.
This occurred on a day Nigeria’s Muslim faithful joined the rest of the world in celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Eid-el-Fitri.
According to an eyewitness, who identified himself as Akinola Adeniyi, the tragedy occurred at about 11.30 am.
Search and rescue operations are ongoing on the Third Mainland Bridge after two persons fell into the Lagos lagoon following an accident involving a commercial vehicle.
The accident occurred around 11 a.m. on Wednesday when the brakes of the vehicle failed.
A photo from the scene of the accident
Emergency management officials said marine police are leading the search and rescue operations to recover the two adults in the Lagoon.
Other passengers have been taken to the General Hospital, Lagos Island.
Road safety officials were on the scene of the accident to ensure free-flowing of traffic
A Director of Operations, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Olatunde Akinsanya, who spoke to journalists after the incident, said, “Today (On Wednesday), at 10 minutes after 11am, we had a road accident very close to Adeniji Bypass.
“A commercial bus with 22 passengers suffered brakes failure on high speed. In the process, he ran himself into the barrier on the Third Mainland Bridge and two adults were plunged into the lagoon.
“We have recovered the wreckage of the vehicle and the victims have been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
“The next action is the search and rescue operations on the waterway and that is what we are collaborating with marine police, NEMA and others.”
The crash which happened on the day Muslims are marking the Eid-El-Fitr and also a work-free day, saw other road users gather around the accident scene to render help to the victims.
Rescue officials, security agents as well as traffic management officers were also on the scene.
The Federal Government reopened the third mainland bridge on the 4th of April after months of repair works, setting the speed limit at 80 km/hr
