‘Intensified efforts’ Officials confirm safety of 170 passengers, 21 still missing

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has confirmed the safety of 170 passengers aboard the Abuja-Kaduna train attacked by terrorists last Monday while 21 others were still missing.

NRC’s Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria, said this in a statement on Sunday in Lagos while giving an update on the incident, which occurred on March 28, at the Kateri-Rijana area of Kaduna State.

He said seven coaches have been recovered while the Corporation had intensified efforts towards restoration of the services.

Mr Okhiria said the Corporation in collaboration with security agencies would leave no stone unturned in its efforts at rescuing the missing persons.

“From the last release, we confirmed that four Coaches (SP 00004, SP00009, SP00012 and SP00013) out of the 11 Coaches involved in the incident have been re-railed and safely moved to Rigasa Station while work is ongoing on track repairs.

The terrorists used IEDs to blow up the train tracks.

“We did also state that 170 of the passengers on board the train are safe while 21 other passengers are reported missing.

“At the end of work on Saturday evening (02/04/2022) the NRC’s restoration team has further rerailed four more Coaches and two of the coaches (SP 00007 and SP 00013) had been safely moved to Idu and Rigasa Stations respectively.

“The other two coaches are still at the site due to damaged tracks. This brings the total coaches so far rerailed to 7, but only 5 successfully moved to the stations.

“However, efforts are on to link the track, at the moment, a total of 80 meters of the affected section has been fixed including replacement of affected sleepers and twisted rails,” Mr Okhiria said.

He said the Corporation deeply condoles with those who lost loved ones and prays for the repose of their souls.

He said the management equally sympathised with the injured passengers and indeed everyone on board the AK9 train of Monday 28, for the trauma this unfortunate incident had caused them.

Mr Okhiria expressed sincere gratitude to the security agencies, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force, Police, and NSCDC, among others, for their support and cooperation.

He thanked the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Baba Alkali, for support and visit to the accident site, adding that the visit boosted their morale.

IGP Usman Alkali Baba patrols along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway with some senior officers and men.

The NRC boss assured the readiness of the Corporation to update Nigerians on the development to prevent misleading information and falsehood.

Rtn. Victor Ojelabi

Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.