Photos by Femi E. Gabriel
Tragedy struck in the early hours of today as a train loaded with passengers derailed and abruptly ended its journey at Ashade-Mangoro, few metres away from Agege train station, where it took off from.
According to eye witnesses, the incident happened in the early hours of Thursday, creating panic in the area.
The train which took from Ijoko in Ogun state, was heading to Ido, Lagos.
“I was in coach five of the train; on our way, we just heard a loud noise and had to rush down and discovered that three coaches had derailed”, said Taiwo Lambo, a passenger aboard the train.
Another eye witness, Alhaji Ibrahim Jigawa, who sells rams by the rail track was full of praise to Allah that there was no casualty. “Allamdullilah, that train, e no touch anybody, e no touch my people, customer e dey that time, e no touch anyone, everybody wey dey inside, e comot by imsef, nobody e die, nagode Allah,” he stuttered.
The Nigerian Railway Commission, NRC, which give a hint as to the cause of the mishap and accepts responsibility for it, agreed that a lesson has been learnt.
“Going forward, what we need to do is to make sure that our tracks are regularly patrolled. We have to identify our high risk areas, and we make sure that we position somebody there permanently to make sure that the place is safe”, said Niyi Alli, Director of Operations at NRC.
No lives were lost in the accident
