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Apapa Tanker Crash: How Rescue Teams Averted Major Disaster — LASTMA

The incident led to residents of the area scooping the highly inflammable content without a care for their lives, raising concerns over public safety.

By Ayomide Tella
Updated January 20, 2026
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The General Manager, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Olalekan Bakare-Oki, has said the early intervention of rescue teams in the Apapa Tanker crash on Monday helped avert a major disaster.

Bakare-Oki said this during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, saying they were the first responders to get to the scene.

“When we got to the scene, we were the first responder, we quickly called on all other responders: the Lagos State Fire Service, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Nigeria Police, and even Lagos State Ambulance Services were put on standby in case of any eventualities,” the LASTMA general manager said on Tuesday.

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Despite the rescue teams available, “there was another call that was pulled through to the Nigeria Police, especially the area commander, to bring additional men to curtail the excesses of those scooping fuel underneath the bridge,” he explained.

Though the LASTMA chief didn’t give a reason for the cause of the accident, he assured that the driver would not go unpunished.

He explained that the tanker was removed immediately and the whole area cleared.

“Even the Lagos State Fire Service had to spend an extra hour ensuring that they dislodge all the spilled fuel both on the bridge and underneath the bridge in order to avert any fire incidence or inferno,” he said.

The tanker loaded with diesel fell on the Liverpool Bridge in the Apapa area of Lagos State on Monday and spilled its contents on the road.

The incident led to residents of the area scooping the highly inflammable content without a care for their lives, raising concerns over public safety.

 

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