By Steve Agbota
Scores of market women and commuters escaped death by whiskers in the early hours of yesterday as a truck carrying 2×20 feet container failed its break and fell on top of the Liverpool bridge in Apapa, Lagos.
The market women selling all manners of items including fish, ware among others under the Liverpool bridge were saved from untimely death as the two containers could not fall on them due the fenders constructed on the bridge.
When Daily Sun arrived at the scene of the incident, the containers have destroyed by the fenders of the bridge as the rubbles scattered everywhere under the bridge.
A witness, Paul Leye, said that the truck was trying to ascend the bridge, moving towards Tin Can port when it suddenly lost its grip and started going on backward slope until it somersaulted and the containers fell and compressed.
Leye, a clearing agent, said the two containers were only prevented from falling down due to the closeness of another bridge in proximity leading into the Tin Can Truck Park.
Another port user, Lucky Bassey, who spoke with Daily Sun said that apart from the break failure, the truck is not enough to carry two 20ft containers on this road, saying this is one of the rickety trucks that shouldn’t have been allowed to be on the port access road.
He said there was a need for government to carryout integrity test on that Liverpool bridge to determine the level of damages on it, saying that for years the bridge have been vibrating and nobody is doing anything about it.
“Look at the damage the truck has caused on the Federal Government’s infrastructure. The fenders of this bridge is damaged and we have said it on several fora that this kind of truck shouldn’t be on the road. But authorities are playing deaf ears.
“Do you know the number of market women doing businesses under this Liverpool bridge? If not for God’s intervention, a lot of people would have lost their lives here today. But we thank God that no life was lost. I will say it again that authorities shouldn’t allow rickety trucks on our roads. They destroy lives and our roads.,” he said.
At the time of filing this report, security personnel and traffic officers were waiting for mechanism for evacuation to arrive.