The Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mr. Fidet Okhiria, has said that 14 of the 21 passengers abducted on board the Ak9 train on the standard gauge rail from Kaduna to Abuja were found alive and safe.

This is contained in a statement issued on Monday in Lagos by Okhiria in an update on the attack and abduction of passengers on the train by terrorists on March 28, at the Kateri-Rijana area of Kaduna State.

He said that a total of 362 validated passengers were on board the attacked AK9 train service.

“No fewer than 186 persons on the manifest are confirmed to be safe and at their various homes with additional 14 persons confirmed safe today.

“Also, 51 phone numbers on the manifest are either switched off or not reachable since Tuesday morning. A total of 35 phone numbers on the manifest are ringing but no response from the other end.

“Another 60 phone numbers on the manifest when called respond non-existent. A total of 22 persons are reported missing by their relatives while eight persons were confirmed dead.

“Two coaches (SP 00016 and SP 00017) earlier re-railed were safely moved to Rigasa station, bringing the total number of recovered coaches safely moved to NRC stations to seven,” Okhiria said.

He said that intensive work continues on track repairs, adding that more concrete sleepers were moved to the site while some sections of the twisted tracks had been straightened.

Okhiria expressed the gratitude of the NRC management to the security agencies for all the support, adding “the management also appreciated the visit of the Squadron Commander of MOPOL 1, Kaduna, to the accident site on Monday.

The NRC boss reassured that the corporation would continue to update the general public on the developments to prevent misleading information and falsehood.