Another train accident in Nigeria kills two people

A train accident in Lagos on Thursday killed at least two people and injured many.

Officials said the accident occurred when a bus carrying government workers to work collided with a train.

Photos shared on social media show a wrecked white and blue striped bus and a yellow train stuck across a rail track. The accident occurred at the Sogunle area of Lagos.

Ibrahim Farinloye, the Lagos territorial coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, said the deceased were members of staff of the Lagos state government, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

– Key points to note

Trains are not used as popular means of transportation in Nigeria, still, the country has recorded five accidents in the last one year. Terrorists attacked a train travelling from Abuja to Kaduna in March 2022 killing eight people and abducting dozens. A similar attack occurred in Edo state where travellers were also abducted.

In December, a woman was killed when her car got stuck in a train track in Kubwa, Abuja and in January, a train travelling to the same area derailed but recorded no casualty.

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The emergency official, Mr Farinloye, said the staff bus was trying to cross the PWD/Sogunle rail crossing while the train, on the rail, was coming into Lagos from Abeokuta.

He said flag officers of the Nigerian Railway Corporation had tried unsuccessfully to stop the bus driver.

Fidet Okhiria, managing director of Nigerian Railway Corporation, said many cars had stopped while the bus continued.

“According to the information I gathered at the scene of the incident, they said many cars stopped when they got to the level crossing while the Lagos State Staff Bus driver continued moving, which I don’t know why,” he said.

”Maybe the driver thought he could pass before the train got nearer to him. He could not pass, then the train crushed the bus; that is what we gathered.”