The passengers stranded in a forest at Itakpe, Kogi State, when the Warri-Itakpe train derailed two weeks ago, have been evacuated by staff members of the railway station, who used a cab.
One of the staff members revealed this to Vanguard, adding that there was no report of injury.
Barely a month after no fewer than 20 passengers were abducted from the train station in Igueben, Edo State, the same train plying the Warri-Itakpe route derailed, leaving many of the passengers stranded.
According to sources in the train, the incident happened inside Kogi forest, with many of the passengers said to have abandoned the train for fear of being taken hostage.
It was gathered that the train, which left Warri early on Sunday morning, got derailed at about Noon in the forest between Ajaokuta and Itakpe.
Several of the passengers were said to have abandoned the train for fear of being taken hostage.
The police commands in Delta and Kogi States could not immediately confirm the incident.
However, the Manager, Warri/Itakpe railway, told Vanguard that 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 (NRC) at the Itakpe Station, the incident took place about 20 kilometres from the destination of the train.
The source also said that some of the NRC workers got vehicles that evacuated the passengers from the forest, where the incident occurred.
“The place is not far from the last bus stop. So some of our staff members called a cab from the station at Itakpe to evacuate all of them.
“It’s not far; just 20 kilometres from the incident scene. Nobody was injured”, he said.
Stating why the train derailed, he said: “We can’t access the cause now, our engineer went there to check, just that the locomotive dropped from the track”.
