A 27-year-old woman, Aisha Ibrahim, has been confirmed dead after her car reportedly somersaulted and fell into the Lagos Lagoon from the Third Mainland Bridge in the state.
Ibrahim, who lived in Gbagada axis of Lagos, was said to be returning from an event in Ikoyi where she worked as a vendor when the auto crash occurred on the bridge.
She called her mother around 1 a.m. to say she would be home in 20 minutes,” her aunt, Hadiza Oyewumi, said in a telephone interview with newsmen yesterday.
“By 2 a.m., her phone was unreachable. By 4 a.m., her mother became worried, and by 6 a.m., her elder sister and mother set out to look for her.”
Oyewumi explained that on their way to the Island, the family saw emergency officials and bystanders gathered near the bridge.
“When we stopped, we were told there had been an accident. The car’s bumper was visible, and when they checked the plate number, it matched hers,” Oyewumi said.
“Officials from LASTMA and the marine police kept saying they were making calls, but no one went into the lagoon. It was her father who eventually negotiated with local divers. They demanded N400,000 before diving in. Only after the payment did they retrieve her body.”
Her body was recovered between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday — nearly half a day after the accident — and buried immediately according to Islamic rites.
In a separate statement yesterday, Oyewumi described her late niece as a promising entrepreneur with high aspirations, even as she lamented what she called the commercialization of human lives in the failed rescue effort.
“The circumstances of the crash remain unclear, but what is more painful is the response that followed. LASTMA and marine police were at the scene, but there was no meaningful rescue. It fell to local fishermen, who demanded money before acting. In their grief, the family paid — not to bargain, but to recover her body for a proper burial.”
She urged the Lagos State Government to properly equip emergency responders and formally integrate trained divers into rescue operations.
“Can a structure be created so that, in moments like this, money is not placed above humanity?. The Centre of Excellence must not commercialise human lives. Preparedness and compassion can make all the difference.”
However, the Director of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, confirmed that Ibrahim’s body was recovered lifeless from the lagoon during a rescue operation.
She explained that the body was subsequently handed over to the Nigeria Police and the victim’s family.
“It was a single accident involving a Toyota Camry with registration number LSR 384 BE, which plunged into the lagoon with the driver as the lone occupant,” Adeseye said.
