{"id":22691,"date":"2025-03-15T12:26:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T12:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=22691"},"modified":"2025-03-15T12:38:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T12:38:03","slug":"my-mechanic-died-trying-to-save-my-wifes-car-from-otedola-bridge-fire-dotun-oladipo-ceo-of-eagle-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=22691","title":{"rendered":"\u2018My Mechanic Died Trying to Save My Wife\u2019s Car from Otedola Bridge Fire\u2019 \u2013 Dotun Oladipo, CEO of Eagle Online"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Dotun Oladipo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Premium Eagle Media Limited, publishers of <\/span><span class=\"s3\">Eagle Online<\/span><span class=\"s2\">, has shared the tragic story of how his mechanic lost his life while attempting to save vehicles during the recent fire outbreak under the Otedola Bridge in Lagos.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">On Tuesday, a tanker carrying inflammable gas overturned beneath the bridge, triggering a massive explosion. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/fire-razes-church-as-tanker-explodes-under-otedola-bridge-in-lagos\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">resulting fire engulfed nearby structures<\/a>, including a church, a residential building, and a mechanic workshop. At least two people lost their lives, while six others sustained varying degrees of injuries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Among the deceased was Rotimi Olaleye, an automobile mechanic who worked at one of the repair shops in the area. Olaleye had been Oladipo\u2019s trusted mechanic, and they had scheduled a meeting at the workshop just before the tragic incident.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"cs-entry__media-wrap cs-overlay-ratio cs-ratio-landscape-16-9\">\n<figure class=\"cs-overlay-background cs-overlay-transparent\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-csco-thumbnail-uncropped-uncropped size-csco-thumbnail-uncropped-uncropped wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Dotun-Oladipo-e1742031309930.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 974px) 100vw, 974px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Dotun-Oladipo-e1742031309930.jpg 974w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Dotun-Oladipo-e1742031309930-300x208.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Dotun-Oladipo-e1742031309930-768x531.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Dotun-Oladipo-e1742031309930-332x230.jpg 332w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Dotun-Oladipo-e1742031309930-664x459.jpg 664w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Dotun-Oladipo-e1742031309930-688x476.jpg 688w\" alt=\"\" width=\"974\" height=\"674\" data-cfsrc=\"https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Dotun-Oladipo-e1742031309930.jpg\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><i>\u2022Dotun Oladipo, publisher of Eagle Online<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>A Narrow Escape<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Oladipo revealed that he, his wife, and their daughter narrowly avoided the explosion. The journalist recounted how he had planned to pick up his wife\u2019s car from Olaleye\u2019s workshop that evening.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">On their way to the mechanic village, the family stopped at a supermarket to buy drinking water, a delay of about 10 to 15 minutes. That brief pause, he later realized, was a stroke of luck.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cPeople would later describe that short detour as my good fortune because it delayed our arrival at the mechanic village just in time to see a trailer from CMD Road, seemingly out of control,\u201d Oladipo said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Sensing danger, he immediately turned away from the workshop.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>A Mechanic\u2019s Ultimate Sacrifice<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">While Oladipo and his family managed to escape, Olaleye stayed behind, determined to save his customers\u2019 vehicles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cI kept calling the mechanic to warn him to abandon the cars and run, but he never picked up. Just then, we heard the explosion. After that, his phone never rang again,\u201d Oladipo recounted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">His apprentices later confirmed that Olaleye had urged them to flee for safety, but he insisted on staying back to protect the vehicles in his care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1140105 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1387px) 100vw, 1387px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye.jpg 1387w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye-1024x674.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye-332x219.jpg 332w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye-664x437.jpg 664w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye-688x453.jpg 688w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye-1376x906.jpg 1376w, https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye-1045x688.jpg 1045w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1387\" height=\"913\" data-cfsrc=\"https:\/\/www.thecable.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rotimi-Olaleye.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><i>\u2022The late mechanic, Mr. Rotimi Olaleye<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><br \/>\nOtedola Bridge: A Recurring Tragedy<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The Otedola Bridge has witnessed several fatal accidents over the years. In 2023, a wheat-laden truck overturned on the bridge, killing one person. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">In 2021, a 40-foot container fell off a truck, crushing a victim, while a tanker explosion that same year led to the destruction of multiple vehicles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Olaleye\u2019s death adds to the grim history of the notorious bridge, highlighting the dangers that persist in the area.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dotun Oladipo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Premium Eagle Media Limited, publishers of Eagle Online, has shared the tragic story of how his mechanic lost his life while attempting to save vehicles during the recent fire outbreak under the Otedola Bridge in Lagos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1717,10306,10308,10309,654,10305,10307],"class_list":["post-22691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ceo","tag-died","tag-dotun-oladipo","tag-eagle-online","tag-fire","tag-mechanic","tag-otedola-bridge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22691"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22699,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22691\/revisions\/22699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}