1 week after Kaduna train attack, NRC says 146 victims are not reachable

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has disclosed that 146 of the 362 passengers on the ill-fated train attacked by terrorists last week are now unreachable.

Mr Fidet Okhiria, the Managing Director of the Corporation made this known in a statement on Monday, April 4, 2022. 

He, however, said the number of safe passengers had risen to 186.

According to him, since last week Tuesday, 51 phone numbers on the manifest are either switched off or unreachable.

He added that 35 phone numbers on the manifest are ringing, but no response from the other end.

Okhiria also said that 60 phone numbers on the manifest when called, responded non-existent.

While eight persons have been confirmed dead, the NRC boss clarified that 22 persons have been reported missing by their relatives.

The statement reads in part: “51 phone numbers on the manifest are either switched off or have not been reachable since Tuesday morning and 35 phone numbers on the manifest are ringing, but no response from the other end. 60 phone numbers on the manifest when called, responded non-existent.

”The statement is aimed at updating Nigerians on the ongoing development regarding the clearing of the incident site (recovery of the rolling stock, repairs of the track) and status of Passengers that were onboard the AK9 train of Monday, March 28.

”Of the 362 validated passengers on board the attacked AK9 train service on March 28, 186 persons on the manifest are confirmed to be safe and at their various homes (additional 14 persons confirmed safe today).

“Two coaches (SP 00016 and SP 00017) earlier re-railed have safely been moved to Rigasa Station.

”This brings the total number of recovered Coaches and safely moved to NRC Stations to be seven. Intensive work continues on track repairs. More concrete Sleepers were moved to site while some section of twisted tracks has been straightened.

”We remain grateful to the security agencies for all the support. We are very appreciative of Squadron Commander MOPOL 1 Kaduna’s visit to the accident site today.

The NRC boss promised to update the general public on developments to prevent misleading information and falsehood.