By Idris Bakare
A yet-to-be-identified woman jumped into the Lagos lagoon from the Third Mainland bridge on Thursday, an official has said.
It was learnt that that the woman had disembarked from a cab and headed towards the railing of the bridge and plunged into the water.
The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, in a statement said that an operation is ongoing to rescue the victim.
He said the lady alighted from one e-hailing taxi on the Third Mainland bridge and jumped into the lagoon.
“Upon arrival of the LRT at the incident scene, investigation revealed that a lady in her late thirties (30s) plunged into the Lagos lagoon,” the statement reads.
“The driver of the taxi claimed she was having a heated conversation with her fiance before alighting from the car.
“The LRT, Men of Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, LASWA, and officials of the Department of State Service (DSS) are currently on ground working better together to search for the victim. Operation ongoing,” the statement reads.
Recall, a number of suicides have occurred on the 11,8-kilometer-long bridge over the past four months.
Since its opening in 1990, the bridge has been the primary connection between the mainland and Lagos Island, Victoria Island, Lekki, Ajah, and Epe, where thousands of residents commute daily.
Recall that in October, an unidentified man was videotaped in a viral video diving into the Lagoon after allegedly being accused of theft.
Ngozi Blessing, a Facebook user, uploaded recordings of the man addressing several onlookers and jumping into the Lagoon.
In the article, Blessing claimed that the man killed himself because he was falsely accused of stealing a large sum of money, which he denied.
In a text accompanying the video, Blessing wrote, “He was saying that they framed him; that he stole a huge of money which he did not.
“And they said they give him 24 hours to refund the money but that he did not steal.
“For him to eat once in a day is a problem, so where will he get that kind of money from within 24 hours?
“So he is tired of life and so he jumped off the bridge.”