Passengers Stranded As Warri-Itakpe Train Derails in Kogi Forest

Hundreds of passengers have been reported stranded inside a forest in Kogi State after a train an Itakpe-bond train derailed on Sunday.

Diplomatic diary gathered that the train which left Warri early on Sunday morning got derailed at about 12:noon inside the thick forest between Ajaokuta and Itakpe.

One of the passengers, a former Chairman of the Bayelsa Vigilante Agency, Prince Douye Koroye, said over 200 hundred passengers were on board the train.

Koroye, who was also a former Special Adviser to the Bayelsa State Government on Youth and Community Development, alleged that the incident might be a case of suspected criminals who had cut a part of the track forcing the train to derail when it got to the affected spot.

The passengers reportedly abandoned the train immediately after the  incident and fled into the bush for fear of being taken hostage.

He said the stranded passengers were told by the officials of the Nigeria Railway Corporation to remain calm and sit back in the train while they mobilised for help, adding that security team in the train were on guard.

-diplomatic diary