Bank employee dies as vehicle somersaults on bridge

At least one person was killed, while another person sustained serious injury after a black Toyota Prado Sports Utility Vehicle somersaulted on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State. PUNCH Metro learnt that the two victims were employees of Access Bank Plc. According to traffic officials, the vehicle with number plate, AGL102BU, was on high speed when one of its rear tyres burst suddenly. The driver of the vehicle was said to have applied the brakes immediately, causing the vehicle to somersault many times until it finally landed on the median. It was learnt that officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, led by the commander, Temitope Adebayo, raced to the scene and evacuated the occupants of the vehicle. An eyewitness, Michael Odetola, told our correspondent that the incident occurred around 10.30am. Odetola said, “The vehicle, which was inbound Oworonshoki, was on high speed when one of its tyres burst. The vehicle somersaulted many times before landing on the median. The driver of the vehicle died on the spot as his head was fractured, while his blood spilled all over the vehicle. “The second guy survived and people moved him into another vehicle.” It was learnt that the surviving victim was rushed to Gbagada General Hospital, while the corpse had been deposited at the mortuary. LASTMA officials told PUNCH Metro that two identity cards, which showed that the victims were employees of the Access Bank, were recovered from the vehicle and had been handed over to the police. PUNCH Metro observed that the accident caused a traffic snarl from the accident scene to the Lagos Island end of the bridge as many motorists alighted from their vehicles to take pictures. LASTMA Public Relations Officer, Bola Ajao, who confirmed the accident to our correspondent on the telephone, urged motorists to drive safely and avoid speeding, saying such caution would make it easy to overcome eventualities on the road.