31st March, 2022
By Aisha Cole
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has commiserated with relatives and friends of passengers who died onboard the NRC AK9 train attacked by terrorists on Monday in Kaduna.
The corporation’s Managing Director, Mr Fidet Okhiria, expressed his condolence in a statement on Thursday in Lagos.
He also sympathised with injured passengers.
Okhiria also commiserated with Kaduna State Government and people on the unfortunate incident.
“We regret the death of eight of our passengers and security personnel attached to the train service as well as injuries suffered by scores of our passengers,” he said.
The managing director also regretted the trauma suffered by the passengers and crew.
Okhiria prayed for the speedy recovery of injured passengers and grace for the bereaved families to bear their losses.
He, however, said that NRC’s attention had been drawn to misleading information on social media with respect to the number of passengers on the train.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, please note: The Abuja-Kaduna service is run on a fully automated e-ticket system with entry and exit turnstiles that validate every passenger onboard our trains.
“Ticket checkers also validate the ticket of every passenger via electronic validators linked to the central system to verify the integrity of our manifest.
“The 398 passengers purchased tickets to travel on the NRC AK9 service, and 362 passengers actually boarded the AK9 service.
“The entire seat capacity of the train in question is 840 passengers; therefore, the figure of 970 being circulated cannot be correct,” Okhiria said.
He added that the AK9 service was the last out of Abuja on the day of the attack.
Okhiria said that NRC management would continue in its efforts to reach out to passengers on board the ill-fated train, using the comprehensive manifest, in order to obtain valid information about their present condition.