A 27-year-old woman, Aisha Maikudi Ibrahim, lost her life on Saturday when her car somersaulted and plunged into the Lagos Lagoon from the Third Mainland Bridge.
Family members revealed that Ms Ibrahim, who lived in Gbagada, was returning from an event in Ikoyi, where she worked as a vendor, when the crash occurred.
“She called her mother around 1 a.m. to say she would be home in 20 minutes,” her aunt, Hadiza Oyewumi, said on Sunday. “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.”
According to Ms Oyewumi, the family stumbled upon the accident scene as emergency officials and bystanders gathered near the bridge. “The car’s bumper was visible, and when they checked the plate number, it matched hers,” she said.
While the family believes the vehicle may have somersaulted at high speed, the exact circumstances of the crash remain unclear.
What has left them more devastated, however, was the failed rescue response.
“Officials from LASTMA and the marine police kept saying they were making calls, but no one went into the lagoon,” Ms Oyewumi recounted. “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 12 hours after the accident — and buried immediately according to Islamic rites.
In a separate statement, Ms Oyewumi described her niece as “a promising entrepreneur with high aspirations” and criticised what she called the “commercialisation of human lives” during the rescue effort.
“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,” the statement read.
She urged the Lagos State Government to properly equip emergency responders and integrate trained divers into official rescue operations.
“Can a structure be created so that, in moments like this, money is not placed above humanity?” she asked. “Preparedness and compassion can make all the difference.”
When contacted, LASTMA spokesperson Taofeek Adebayo said he was unaware of the incident but promised to investigate.
However, the Director of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, confirmed the incident, saying Ms Ibrahim’s body was recovered lifeless from the lagoon and handed over to the police and the family.
She said the crash involved a lone Toyota Camry with registration number LSR 384 BE.
Saturday’s tragedy adds to a list of similar incidents on the Third Mainland Bridge. In April 2024, an 18-seater bus swerved off the bridge near the Adeniyi Adele axis, inward Lagos Island, flinging two passengers into the lagoon while several others sustained injuries.