Lagos tanker explosion: Publisher narrates how mechanic died trying to save wife’s car

Dotun Oladipo, the chief executive officer of The Eagle Online, has narrated how his automobile mechanic died while trying to save his wife’s car from the recent fire outbreak under the Otedola Bridge in Lagos.

On Tuesday, a tanker carrying inflammable gas overturns under the bridge. The explosion affects nearby structures, including a church, a residential house, and a mechanic yard.

At least two people die, while another six suffer varying degrees of injuries from the resulting fire.

One of the deceased is Rotimi Olaleye, an automobile mechanic at one of the repair shops under the bridge.

Olaleye is Oladipo’s mechanic, and they plan to meet at the repair shop before the incident happens.

The publisher of Eagle Online says he, his wife, and daughter escape the explosion by a whisker.

The journalist recalls how he arranges to pick up his wife’s car, which is in the mechanic’s care, on the night of the incident.

Rotimi Olaleye, the mechanic who dies trying to protect his client’s vehicles

He says that on the way to the mechanic village, the family stops to buy drinking water from a supermarket and “takes about 10 to 15 minutes doing that.”

Oladipo says people later describe the brief detour “as my good fortune” because it delays the family’s arrival at the mechanic village, causing them to “see a trailer coming from the CMD road that has apparently lost control.”

“I immediately turn another way from the mechanic village,” Oladipo recalls.

Oladipo adds that while everyone escapes, the mechanic tells his apprentices that he “needs to save his customers’ cars” amid the raging fire.

The fire razes the mechanic workshop.

“I start dialing the number of the mechanic [I am supposed to pick my wife’s car from] to alert him to abandon the vehicle and run. He never picks up. It is about that time that we hear the explosion. Then his phone never rings again.

“What we find out later from his apprentices is that the mechanic tells his boys to run for safety, but he informs them that he needs to save his customers’ cars.”

Otedola Bridge becomes an infamous spot for gruesome accidents in recent years.