The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has faulted the claims that a life was lost in the train derailment that occurred at the Mangoro/ Agege area of Lagos State.
Managing Director of NRC, Mr Freeborn Okhiria, confirmed to Channels Television in an interview that nobody died in the incident.
“There are over 100 people in that single coach; if it was a road vehicle, you know what could have happened,” he said.
“As I speak, we just have only one person that was injured which we have taken care of him.”
The train was said to be coming from Ijoko area of Ogun State and heading to Ebute Metta in Lagos before the incident happened in the morning.
The accident occurred when one of the train coaches reportedly fell off the rail track while in motion, causing another coach to derail.
According to witnesses, there was tension among passengers on the train who struggled to escape through the windows of the affected coaches.
Mr Okhiria insisted that no life was lost and the only person injured has since been treated.
He added that a lot of things used to be involved in a train accident and the Accident Investigation Team of the NRC has launched a probe into today’s incident to unravel its cause.
Explaining how the accident happened, the NRC boss said, “We have about four trains every morning and the first one was coming, made up of 11 coaches.
“Eight passed and on getting to the ninth one, it derailed and one fell down and dragged the other two. Before a train leaves a station, there is a train examiner who must check to ensure that it is fit to go and once a trip is finished, it is re-checked. It was checked this morning.”
