Pregnant Woman Killed As Police, Train Hikers Clash In Lagos

 

A pregnant woman and a man whose identity are yet known, were killed on Tuesday during a face-off between policemen and illegal train-passengers along the Oshodi- Agege railway line in Lagos. 

The pregnant woman was said to have been hit by a hard object thrown by one of the hikers, while the other person jumped off the train and was crushed to death while trying to escape from the fracas.

NX gathered that officers of the police force were stationed at the PWD end of the railway line to effect the arrest of some of the hikers, following a tip off that some passengers had been seen with guns on Monday.

A police officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “Since these illegal train passengers learnt that people usually take their pictures, they climb the train with dangerous objects such as stones and sticks which they throw at people taking their photographs.

“On Monday, however, we learnt that two people hanging on a train were carrying some guns, so we decided to catch them the following day. This morning (Tuesday), some policemen in mufti were inside the train while others attached to the Rapid Response Squad stationed near the railway crossing.

“We immediately accosted them but in the process, one of them fell off the train and was crushed. Some of them were throwing stones in the process and
some people on the ground were hit. A pregnant woman was hit and she also died.”

This led to stampede at the PWD end of the Agege Motor Road, as everyone scampered for safety just to avoid being hit by dangerous objects.

It was learnt that 19 suspects had been arrested while different weapons were recovered from them.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, promised to get the details of the incident as soon as possible.