By Solomon T. Gaye Sr.
A train carrying iron ore from Yekepa to the Port of Monrovia over the weekend gutted fire in Sanniquellie, Nimba County.
A resident of Sanniquellie, John William, disclosed that the train got gutted by fire at about 6:30 P.M. in the community.
According to William, due to the heavy smoke prior to the fire from the train’s engine made many of the residents to run to the Police Station in fear.
Another resident, Madam Rose Tiah, explained that many of the people living along the rail road in Sanniquellie are living in fear with their families and that needs government’s attention to relocate the people to another area.
In separate remarks, a senior PSU Officer explained that the train is owned by the ArcelorMittal Company and that it was coming from the mountain of Yekepa and was carrying iron ore to the Freeport of Monrovia before the incident occurred.
At the burning site, fire service truck along with its officers was busy trying to extinguish the fire while the PSU Officers ensured that nobody enters the 75 buckets train thereby deploying PSU Officers at the different compartment of the locomotive and within the vicinity of the incident.
This is said to be the third disaster to hit the company in less than two years in the country as during the beginning of 2022, a locomotive coming from Grand Bassa and Nimba Counties collided, wounding several persons onboard.
Report gathered by this paper revealed then that one of the locomotive operators who was in critical condition was immediately transferred abroad for medical treatment.
During the beginning of 2023, another locomotive carrying iron ore from Yekepa lost control and over 30 of the buckets cut off thus leaving the company to lose millions of dollars on the world market.
