Infant and Four Others Survive Multi-Vehicle Crash on Lagos Expressway

An eight-month-old baby and four adults narrowly escaped death on Tuesday following a multi-vehicle collision on the Otedola Bridge, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The incident occurred when a speeding LT commercial bus struck four pedestrians, including a woman carrying the infant on her back, as they attempted to cross the busy highway. The initial impact led to a chain-reaction crash involving a Hydra truck, a Ford vehicle, and an unregistered flat-body truck.

Taofik Adebayo, spokesperson for the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), confirmed the details in a statement on Thursday. “Preliminary findings indicate that the four severely injured pedestrians were attempting to traverse the expressway when the LT commercial bus, approaching at a perilously excessive speed, catastrophically rammed into them,” he explained.

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LASTMA officials at the scene managed to rescue the baby, who was miraculously unharmed. The four injured adults were stabilized and transported to the Lagos State Accident and Emergency Centre near the tollgate for treatment.

“LASTMA officers quickly rescued the infant, who came out without any injury despite the collision,” Adebayo noted. He added that police from the Alausa Division helped secure the area while traffic personnel cleared the damaged vehicles to restore normal traffic flow.

The General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, expressed his sympathy for the victims and wished them a swift recovery. He also used the opportunity to caution the public against the dangers of crossing major highways on foot.

“He underscored that the hazardous practice of darting across high-speed highways continues to imperil lives needlessly,” the statement read. “He warned pedestrians against crossing major highways, urging them to use the pedestrian bridges provided by the government.”

This accident is the latest in a series of recent road incidents in the state. On Monday, PUNCH Metro reported that LASTMA had confirmed one fatality and six injuries in a separate accident in the Majidun area of Ikorodu on Sunday morning.