The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) in its latest update on efforts to reach passengers who boarded the ill-fated Abuja-Kaduna passenger train on March 28, 2022, have said that 60 phone numbers obtained from the passenger manifest are non-existent when dialled.
According to a statement signed by the Managing Director of the NRC, Engineer Fidet Okhiria late on Sunday evening, 35 phone numbers obtained from the passenger manifest are also ringing but not being picked up.
“As part of our quest to keep the general public informed with on-going development regarding the clearing of the incident site (recovery of the rolling stock, repairs of the track) and status of Passengers that were on-board the AK-9 train of Monday 28th March 2022, the Corporation hereby provide the following updates as at end of work today 3rd April 2022:
“Two Coaches, SP 00016 and SP 00017, earlier re-railed were safely moved to Rigasa Station. This brings the total number of recovered Coaches safely moved to NRC Stations to seven.
“Intensive work continues on track repairs. More concrete Sleepers were moved to the site while some sections of twisted tracks has been straightened.
“Of the 362 validated passengers on board the attacked AK-9 train service, 186 persons on the manifest are confirmed to be safe and at their various homes (Additional 14 persons confirmed safe today).
“51 phone numbers on the passenger manifest are either switched off or not reachable since Tuesday morning. 35 phone numbers on the manifest are ringing but no response from the other end. 60 phone numbers on the manifest, when called, response non-existent.
“22 persons are reported missing by their relatives. Eight persons were confirmed dead.
“We remain grateful to the security agencies for all the support. We are very appreciative of Squadron Commander MOPOL 1 Kaduna visit to the accident site today.
“The NRC will continue to update the general public of developments to prevent misleading information and falsehood,” the NRC Managing Director stated.
https://tribuneonlineng.com/abuja-kaduna-train-60-phone-numbers-of-passengers-non-existent-%e2%80%95-nrc/
Credit: Nigerian Tribune