Petrol tanker tumbles on busy road, crushes car

A tanker laden with petrol tipped over in the Singer Area of Sango-Ota, along the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway; before spilling its inflammable contents on the road and crushing a white Hyundai delivery van beneath it.

The accident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, March 14, 2018, on a failed section of the expressway.

Punch reports that the content of the tanker spilled on the road, clogged drainage channels around the area and forced vehicles to divert to the opposite lane, which led to a gridlock.

The tanker lost its balance at a failed section of the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway, meters away from a Conoil gas station.

Major disaster

Eyewitnesses say security and traffic control personnel arrived the scene on time to avert what could have been a major disaster.

“Okada riders and street urchins had besieged the scene with various sizes of kegs and other containers, ready to scoop petrol”,Punch reports.

The Public Relations Officer of TRACE (Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps), Babatunde Akinbiyi, told Punch over the phone that the incident occurred between 5.30am and 6am.

“The tanker fell this morning between 5:30 am and 6 am Apart from TRACE, the Police, Federal Road Safety Corps and firefighters are on ground at the scene, to prevent people from coming to scoop petrol, which is quite dangerous.

“Efforts are being made to remove the tanker and the Hyundai van from the scene,” Akinbiyi said.

A tale of fallen trucks

Articulated vehicles tipping over and causing accidents is a common occurrenceon undulating Nigerian road surfaces.

Two weeks prior, a tanker laden with 33,000 litres of petrol lost its balance, caved in and tipped over at the Owode-Iyana Ilogbo axis along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

Articulated trucks often tumble over and worsen traffic on the entire stretch of the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki expressway.

The Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki expressway is famously pot-hole ridden with several failed portions sticking out like sore thumbs.