A 10-coach train of the Nigerian Railway Corporation coming from Ijoko, Ogun State and heading to Ebute Metta, Lagos, derailed at Mangoro/Agege area around 7am of Thursday 10 January .
Three coaches are said to have gone off the tracks as the train was in motion.
Several people have been reported injured but no casualty has so far been recorded. Lagos commuters typically hang on the roof of the train as the cheapest means of travel for the millions poor Nigerians resident in that region.
Men of the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority LASEMA are on the scene to respond to the situation, and efforts to open up the the Ikeja—Iyana Ipaja road axis for vehicular movement blocked earlier because of the accident are ongoing.
Directer General of LASEMA, Adesina Tiamiyu at the scene, said they are grappling with crowd control of onlookers swamming the areas of the accident.
No immediate cause of the derailment has been established.
Train related accidents are not uncommon in Lagos – Nigeria’s former capital and commercial nerve center. On November 16, 2017, a train derailed around the Abattoir area of Agege, injuring many and leaving scores dead.
On July 20, 2018, a train rammed into a Danfo bus that had suddenly gotten in the way, killing at least nine persons.
Below is an amateur video of the scene from a social media user.
