By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A passenger train returning to Ujevwe Train Station, has reportedly crashed a family of six along its track, leaving them with various degree of injuries at Odijpata area of Orhuwhorun, Udu local government area of Delta State.
Eyewitnesses disclosed that the train driver crashed the vehicle carrying a man and his wife including their four children on Friday evening.
It was gathered that the Ill-fated vehicle driver had stopped at the train terminal in Odijpata waiting for the train to pass but unfortunately the train was said to have rammed the car and flinged it into a nearby ditch.
The husband and wife including their four children were said to have survived the fatal accident but were badly injured and rushed to an undisclosed hospital.
Witness said, “It happened on Friday here in Odijpata. The train driver almost killed the full family, a husband and wife and their four children were in the car heading towards the Odijpata railway area after the flyover when suddenly their vehicle was crashed and almost killed all occupants.
“There is a terminal there to barricade the road from vehicular movement but the terminal is not functioning, the community people used two caravan to block the front and the workers that are supposed to barricade the road are ghost workers, they don’t come to work
“So whenever a train is passing, any vehicle near the track is at risk. If the terminal was functional accident of these nature wouldn’t have occurred so easily because vehicles would be barricaded a distance from the train track but because the terminal is not functioning people stopped close to the track thus end up been crashed by the moving train unknowing to them that they are too close.
“The man and wife who had the recent accident were not on the track at all, they packed at where the road met the track waiting for the train to pass but unfortunately they got crushed badly and the train driver didn’t even bother to stop. If the vehicle was on the train track the train could have grounded it but it appears they stopped too close to the track.
“It was passerbys that rushed in and rescued the man and his wife and the kids. They were rushed to one hospital but no one can tell if they survived or are died now.
“The vehicle damaged beyond repair, the windscreen are scattered and it appears the occupants had a bag of bean and rice in the vehicle because the whole road littered with the items when the train flung the vehicle into the ditch”.
“Police and vigilante people who came after the accident stopped residents from taking pictures or making any video recordings”, the source said.
Meanwhile despite the severity of the train crash, the Delta State Police Command claimed no report of the incident was filed at the Ovwain police station, which covers the area.
When pressed further by our correspondent, noting that even minor car accidents are typically reported to the nearest police station, let alone a fatal train accident, the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, maintained his stance, simply stating “no report of such” without providing further clarification or explanation.