Uproar as train crushes beggar to death in Lagos

There has been rising uproar over the crushing of a beggar by a passenger train in Mushin area of Lagos State. The uproar stimulated a condemnation of the illegal use of rail lines for purposes not meant for their construction.

Accordingly, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) admitted that a passenger train crushed a beggar to death at Muslim area of Lagos on Monday.

Jerry Oche, Lagos District Manager (RDM) of the Nigeria Railway Regional Corporation,
acknowledging the tragic incident, noted that the  life of every Nigerian is important to the corporation, advising people to endeavour to obey the order and signs attached to the rail lines.

The Regional District Manager of NRC, Lagos, stated that it is against the law to sit or trade beside the railway line, either begging for alms or for any other reason. He admonished that anybody who has no business entering the train should not be on the rail corridor because it is very dangerous.

“It’s like a suicide mission seeing a train approaching and you are still sitting down on the track” Oche said.

The District Manager, therefore, told traders, hawkers, beggars and passersby to stay away from the rail lines across the state to avoid casualty.

It was indicated that an Ijoko – Iddo bound Mass Transit Train crushed the beggar to death near the Mushin railway station on Monday morning. The unidentified beggar was said to be one of the six beggars that sat in a row near the railway line at the Mushin Railway corridor at the time the train approached the vicinity.