Elderly SGR Passenger asked to alight train; goes missing

Dorothy Michieka

May 15, 2021 10:46 AM

The man reportedly mentally ill went missing on May 11, 2021

SGR passenger goes missing

A 74 year old man has been reported missing after alighting from the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) passenger train that was headed to Mombasa.

On May 11th 2021, Peterson Mwangi Ngunyi took the 8am Madaraka Express from the Nairobi terminus in Syokimau.

According to the Kenya Railways, Mr. Mwangi was in possession of an invalid ticket after operators conducted a routine ticket inspection on the train.

In accordance to the Kenya Railway procedure, any passenger found with an invalid ticket in the train is required to either pay for the ticket, payable at the destination or alight at the nearest railway station.

"To assist Mwangi, the train crew requested him to reach out to a family member to pay for his journey but he neither had a phone nor any contact through which he could get assistance," a statement issued by the Railway line read.

The operators then determine that the elderly man was mentally ill.

Further to this, Kenya Railways claim that Mr. Mwangi willingly opted to discontinue his journey and alighted at Athi River station.

However, Mwangi's daughter, Tabitha shared news that her father went missing after a ticket misunderstanding with the Kenya Railways crew.

She noted that her father had a valid ticket and faulted Kenya Railways for ejecting him out of the train.

“We wish to notify our esteemed customers that we do not take this matter lightly and are working closely with the police who have circulated the missing person report to all police stations countrywide in the hope of reuniting Mr Mwangi with his family,” Kenya Railways said.