LAGOS – A team of railway officials and policemen on Wednesday night in Lagos arrested 26 men, including a deaf and dumb, for allegedly sitting on the roof of a moving train and attempting to commit suicide.

The reports that the men were arrested at about 8 p.m. at Iju railway station on the roof of the Iddo-Ijoko mass transit train.

Mr Samuel Elumole, district superintendent of the railways, told NAN in Lagos on Thursday that the men would be charged to court on Friday for “attempting to commit suicide”.

According to Elumole, though the offence carries a fine of N50,000 or a 3-month imprisonment, the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) will plead that the men be sent to prison as the fine had proved to be no deterrent against this suicidal act.

“We are not interested in the fine but we are bent on correcting this anomaly in the way some people behave—endangering their lives for the mere fun of it.

“This abnormal behaviour is an embarrassment to the Corporation and the railway police as it portrays us as not being effective in our duties,” Elumole said.

The Lagos Railway District Manager of the NRC, Mr John Dottie also appealed to members of the public to desist from sitting on the roof of moving trains as many people have fallen to their deaths this way.

Dottie told NAN that further enlightenment on the dangerous issue was being put into fliers, handbills and even giant posters to warn members of the public.

At the Ebute Meta office of the railways on Thursday, many parents and relations of the 26 men, who were being detained, were seen pleading with NRC officials for their possible release. (NAN)