Train crushes man in Oyingbo

A young man in his thirties was crushed by a moving train in the early hours of Friday at Oyingbo, Ebute Meta, Lagos State. The deceased was crossing the railway track with an ear-phone piece blocking his two ears when a Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) train moving from Lagos to Ilorin, Kwara State knocked him down.

The accident immediately threw the busy commercial community into confusion as traders were seen hurriedly packing their wares and early commuters gathering around the corpse. At about 7.30a.m last Friday, the deaceased, simply identified as Yisa, was crossing the railway track while listening to music on his mobile phone with the earpiece covering his ears. He was hit by an oncoming train and died immediately before rescue could come his way.

A resident, Olawole Bakri said, "he was passing by the train track; unfortunately, the train hit him down and he died immediately. He was busy listening to music from his phone with the phone's earpiece. "He has not been identified yet because we used his phone to contact someone who said he was at Ilorin." Another eyewitness, Wasiu Olatunji, explained: "I was at a corner waiting for the train to pass. I heard people shouting to alert him of the oncoming train but he was deafened by the earpiece in his ears. I felt he was confident enough to beat the train but unfortunately the train hit him. But the phones we found on him were stolen immediately by an area boy."

Nigerian Railway Corporation, Oyingbo Ebute Metta, the District Superintendent Officer, Mr. Elomole Samuel, confirmed the report, saying the driver blared the horn of the moving train but the victim was deafened by the phone's earpiece stuck in his ears.

He noted that the accident could not have been averted by the train driver since it was not a moving vehicle one could apply break immediately to stop but a moving engine, even as he disclosed that the corporation had notified the district police force in charge of Railway Corporation to take the corpse to mortuary pending when his family would come for identification.

Samuel, who lamented that two similar accidents representing 99 percent of deaths recorded in 2011 were due to the use of earpiece, which occurred at Ijoko, Sango Ota and Ebute Meta Junction, warned the public to desist from the use of such and be careful when crossing railway tracks. The Police Public Relations Officer of Denton Police Station, Oyingbo, ASP Mahmah, who also confirmed the accident said it was unfortunate that a young man was crushed by a moving train but noted that his men were deployed to guard the corpse before the railway police would move it to the appropriate quarter

Such a sad news for a sad month
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