A driver has been confirmed dead as a narrow-gauge train travelling from Lagos to Kano derailed at Farin Ruwa, near Jaji in Igabi LGA of Kaduna State.
Mallam Abdullahi Alhaji, the Public Relations Officer of the Northern Regional District of the Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC) in Zaria, verified the incident to reporters.
He said the train’s driver, Bala Kawu, died in the incident, and the cargo train was transporting soft drinks to Kano.
According to him, the incident occurred as a result of vandalism of slippers and other accessories on the nearby rail track.
Alhaji claimed that rescue attempts were still underway to recover the deceased’s remains and to salvage the situation so that the journey to Kano could continue.
Recall, terrorists on Monday attacked the Kaduna-Abuja train, killing some passengers and also kidnapping several.
The 6pm train that took off from Idu Station at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) hit an explosive device about 30 minutes to Rigasa station in Kaduna.
One of the passengers Zainab Sanni confirmed the attackers besieged the train, and shot sporadically.
This incident prompted the Nigeria Railway Corporation to suspend the Abuja-Kaduna railway operations. The NRC announced its decision in a brief statement on Twitter on Tuesday.
On October 20, 2021 terrorists derailed a Kaduna-bound commuter train was attacked for a second time around the now notorious rijana-kateri-jere triangle of death with explosives.
This axis which is now infamous for activities of bandits and kidnappers starts from Rijana, some 35 kilometres after Kaduna to Jere which is about 90 km to Abuja.
The train service which was inaugurated for commercial operations in 2016 had faced the challenges of racketeering which had led to extortion of passengers.
Although the introduction of the e-ticketing platform resolved some of the challenges posed by touts at the train stations, other forms of sharp practices abound.
