Passengers stranded as Warri-Itakpe train derails in Kogi forest

A train plying the Warri-Itakpe route has reportedly derailed, forcing many passengers to be stranded.

 

It is said to be the same train where passengers were abducted from at its station in Igueben, Edo State.

 

It was gathered that the incident happened inside Kogi forest.

 

Several passengers were said to have abandoned the train for fear of being kidnapped.

 

It was gathered that the train left Warri early Sunday and got derailed at around 12pm inside the forest between Ajaokuta and Itakpe.

 

The Delta and Kogi State police commands could not immediately confirm the incident, however, the Manager, Warri/Itakpe railway, told our correspondent he was just on his way to the scene and would give the details later.

 

According to a staff member of the Nigerian Railway Corporation at the Itakpe Station, the incident took place at about 20km from the the destination of the train.

 

The source also said some of the NRC workers got vehicles that evacuated the passengers from the forest where the incident took place.

 

“The place is not far from the last bus stop, so some of our staff members called cab from the station at Itakpe to evacuate all of them.

 

“It’s not far just 20km from the incident scene. Nobody was injured,” he told The PUNCH.

 

Speaking on what caused the train to derail, he said, “We can’t access the cause now, our engineer went there to check, just that the locomotive dropped form the track.

 

Confirming the incident, another source within the NRC said, “it’s today, in the morning, at Kogi Station, it’s a station where passengers don’t stop; they closed the station. It’s like somebody tampered with the track and when the train reached there, it derailed; almost four coaches derailed they almost capsised,” the source said.