Train crushes rider to death month before wedding

A dispatch rider, said to be in his early 30s, was on Thursday crushed
to death by a train in the Fagba area of Lagos State.
Firstclass newsline learnt that the victim, identified simply as
Johnson, was working with a courier service in Ikeja.
Johnson, whose wedding was reportedly scheduled for March, was riding
the firm's motorcycle from the Abule Egba area when the incident
happened.
A source gathered that vehicular movements had been stopped in the
area because of the train which was passing.
The deceased, it was learnt, wanted to hurriedly cross the rail track
when he was trapped by the train.
Eyewitnesses said he was dragged into a drain but was later brought
out dead in a pool of blood.
Two men, who declined to give their names, identified themselves as
colleagues of the victim to a source. They also refused to name the
courier company they work for.
Anokadarider, Abdullahi Umar, said policemen from the Oko Oba division
came to evacuate Johnson's remains and his effects.
He said, "It happened around 12pm. It was very bloody. I could not
look at his corpse twice. My colleagues rushed to take him out of the
drain, but he was dead. Our chairman called the Oko Oba police
station.
"One of his neigbours, who came here, said he lived in Ogba, but I did
not ask where exactly in Ogba.
"While we were all lamenting the tragedy, the neighbour said he
(Johnson) did an engagement at his village in December and that he was
supposed to wed in March in Lagos."
A tricycle rider, who identified himself simply as Idowu, blamed the
incident on impatience on the part of the deceased.
"It was a death that could have been averted. Others were waiting for
the train to pass; he should have waited too. The blaring of the train
filled everywhere, so he was fully aware. He just took a risk which
unfortunately cost him his life," he said.
When the source visited Oko Oba Police Station, a police officer, who
wanted to be anonymous, said Johnson's corpse was evacuated by his
colleagues from the Railway Police Station and had been deposited in a
mortuary.
He said, "Before we got there, policemen from Railway Police Division
had removed the corpse and it has been deposited in a mortuary. We
have not seen any of his relatives.
"But if a rail barrier has been mounted on that route, the victim
would have been forced to stop. There should be one there just as it
is in Pen Cinema and Ikeja rail tracks."
The Lagos State Police spokesperson, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, said the track
was not under the jurisdiction of the command.
Firstclassnewsline.net