The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has debunked what it called “misleading” and “insensitive” report circulating in social media regarding the number of passengers in the ill-fated Kaduna-bound train (AK9) attacked by terrorists on Monday.

NRC Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria, in a statement, on Thursday said 398 passengers purchased the ticket to travel on the NRC AK9 service but only 362 passengers boarded the train.

Okhiria, who explained the entire seat capacity of the train in question is 840, further said the 970 being quoted on social media cannot be correct as the train did not even have such capacity.

The NRC chief said it was the last service out of Abuja on Monday evening and it ran at less than full capacity.

According to him, the Abuja -Kaduna service is run on fully automated e-ticket with entry and exit system turnstiles that validate every passenger on board the trains.

“Ticket checkers also validate the tickets of every passenger via electronic validators linked to the central system to verify our manifest and the integrity of the process has never been in doubt,” Okhiria said

He added that passengers on board the AK9 service on Monday have confirmed the train did not run at full capacity, wondering where the authors got their figures.

Okhiria said efforts are ongoing to reach out to passengers on the comprehensive manifest in order to obtain valid information about their present condition.

“While we continue to sympathise with the nation, we kindly implore members of the press, social media sites, and the general public to desist from spreading false information at this delicate time,” Okhiria pleaded.

He said the NRC deeply commiserates with the passengers on board the train, in particular with relatives of those who lost their loved ones in the attack.

“We regret the death of eight of our passengers and security personnel attached to the train as well as scores of those who suffered injuries, not to mention the trauma suffered by scores of passengers by the armed attack,” he added. (The Nation)

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