A video of a fire razing one of the newly procured Warri-Itakpe standard gauge train coaches, which got leaked on Tuesday evening, has created confusion in the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), with the Corporation management claiming sabotage and threatening to sack workers behind the leak.
Confirming this exclusively to the Tribune Online, Spokesman of the Warri-Itakpe train services, Mr Oke Olanrewaju said the MD, Engineer Fidet Okhiria has called the Coordinator in charge of the Warri-Itakpe trains early Wednesday morning, demanding to know why and how the video got leaked.
According to Mr Oke Olanrewaju, “The fire incident involving one of our trains happened about three weeks ago, before the Christmas celebration.
“The MD has called our Coordinator this morning to find out how the video got leaked. An investigation is ongoing to know who videoed the incident and why it was leaked.
The incident happened three weeks ago. Why somebody will release a video of an incident that happened three weeks ago is not yet known, but whoever did this will be severely dealt with.”
Speaking earlier on the trending video which saw NRC workers battling the inferno with leaves and blankets, a staff of the NRC who wouldn’t want his name in print said most of the train coaches don’t have fire extinguishers fitted in them.
“Most of the train coaches don’t have fire extinguishers, so the workers used what was available to them as of the time of the incident and they were able to quench the inferno even though a substantial part of the coach was burnt,” he said.
When contacted, the spokesman of the NRC, Mr Mahmood Yakub explained that investigation is ongoing to unravel the cause of the fire.
“Our MD will be addressing the media on the cause of the fire before the close of work on Wednesday,” he added.
