British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua has been injured in a car crash in Nigeria that killed two other people, authorities have confirmed, according to a BBC report.
The 36-year-old was taken to hospital following the crash on the Ogun-Lagos state expressway on Monday morning, local police told the BBC. Officers earlier said he suffered minor injuries but is “fine”.
According to local media, Joshua was in the back of a vehicle when it collided with a stationary truck on the busy Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Pictures posted online show what appears to be Joshua sitting topless at the back of a car surrounded by broken glass. Social media videos from the crash site show the boxer grimacing as he attempts to exit the car wreckage.
Ogun State Police Command confirmed two people died in the crash. Joshua and other injured people have been taken to “an undisclosed hospital”, police said.
Police commissioner Lanre Ogunlowo said an investigation has been ordered. “I can confirm to you that an accident occurred and the victim has been taken to the hospital,” he said.
Divisional Police Officer Ode Fredrick said police were heading to the hospital to confirm the casualties involved.
Eyewitness Adeniyi Orojo told Nigerian newspaper The Punch that a Lexus and Pajero were involved in the crash. “Joshua was seated behind the driver, with another person beside him,” he told the newspaper. “There was also a passenger sitting beside the driver, making four occupants in the Lexus that crashed. His security detail was in the vehicle behind them before the crash.”
The identities of the two people killed, which vehicle they were travelling in, and the exact cause of the crash remain unknown.
Hours before the crash, at roughly 08:30 GMT, Joshua posted a video to Instagram of him playing table tennis. The former heavyweight world champion had been spending time in Nigeria following his fight with Jake Paul on 19 December. Joshua has family roots in Sagamu, a town in Ogun State in south-west Nigeria.