“The fuel got exhausted”, NRC official confirms train from Lagos-Ibadan left passengers stranded

An official of the Nigerian Rail Corporation (NRC) has confirmed that a train from Lagos to Ibadan on Thursday afternoon ran out of diesel, leaving passengers stranded in the bush for over four hours.

This is coming barely two days after air passengers were stranded across various airports in the country owing to the non-availability of aviation fuel otherwise known as Jet A1.

“What happened was that the fuel got exhausted and we are re-fuelling it at the moment for the return trip,” the official who did not want to be named said.

At 11:26am, a twitter user @IsaiahObadare raised the alarm that he and other passengers, including some Chinese nationals were stuck in the middle of the forest after their train stopped abruptly, and that the crew announced that the train had exhausted its diesel.

“Boarded Train from Ibadan to Lagos. We’re still stuck in the forest with unknown Chinese Men. They said fuel finished. What a beautiful country, Nigeria.” Obadare tweeted.

The twitter user provided a picture update showing a hilux van delivering a drum of diesel at 3:07pm and wrote: “This is when we eventually got diesel”.

Locomotives have diesel tank of about 5,000 to 6,500 litres which is sufficient for their journey of about 1000 km and are usually refuelled at their shed, since every shed has a fuel depot.

However, in a video from the scene which has gone viral, some passengers were seen sitting on the tracks, while others stood watching as the train was being refuelled.