A tragic road accident has claimed the lives of three students from the Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH), Ikorodu, while seven others sustained varying degrees of injuries in a multiple-vehicle collision at Powerline Junction, inward Ikorodu Roundabout, Lagos State.
Confirming the incident in a statement made available to Hobnob News on Saturday, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Adebayo Taofiq, said the crash occurred when a sand-laden tipper truck suffered brake failure and rammed into several vehicles along the busy corridor.
According to Taofiq, the impact of the collision was devastating, resulting in the immediate deaths of three students — two males and one female — while several others, including tricycle operators, were severely injured.
“In an incident of profound tragedy that cast a pall of grief over the Ikorodu metropolis, three promising students of LASUSTECH lost their lives instantaneously in a fatal multiple-vehicle collision that occurred earlier today at Powerline Junction, before Aleje, inward Ikorodu Roundabout,” Taofiq said.
He added that the catastrophic crash involved a sand-laden tipper truck (unregistered), a Toyota Corolla (SMK 42 AJ), an MPV bus, and four tricycles. Preliminary investigation revealed that the tipper, travelling at excessive speed, suffered a mechanical brake failure, causing the driver to lose control and crash into other road users.
Emergency responders from LASTMA, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and the Police were on the scene to rescue the injured victims and restore traffic flow.
“Seven critically injured victims were rushed to nearby hospitals for urgent medical attention, while the bodies of the deceased were taken to the General Hospital, Ikorodu mortuary,” Taofiq confirmed.
Following the evacuation, LASTMA personnel cleared the wreckage to restore normal traffic along the route.
Reacting to the incident, the General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, expressed condolences to the families of the deceased students and wished the injured victims a speedy recovery.
Bakare-Oki described the crash as avoidable, lamenting the recurring menace of reckless driving, overspeeding, and poor vehicle maintenance — particularly faulty braking systems — as leading causes of fatal road accidents in Lagos.
Efforts to reach the spokesperson of LASUSTECH, Lanre Kuye, for comments were unsuccessful as calls and messages had not been returned at the time of filing this report.
Hobnob News also recalls a similar accident that occurred on Friday, when a truck lost control along the Otedola Bridge section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, injuring eight people.
