24th May, 2022 ̶ (Yekepa, Nimba) ArcelorMittal Liberia reports deliberate attempts by some unknown individuals to sabotage its railway operations by breaking two pairs of joint bars on the rail track. The damage to the rail track occurred at Km 231.350 in Nimba County during the early morning hours of May 20, 2022, an AML press release announced on Tuesday.
Arriving on the scene, an emergency response crew discovered that the two regular joint bars along with their bolts and nuts holding the closure rails on both sides were removed and taken away with the possible intent to cause train derailment.
No fatalities or injuries were reported, and AML’s rail maintenance team spent several hours repairing the damage to the rail track.
This is not the first of such attacks on ArcelorMittal Liberia railway operations.
The incident has been reported to the Liberian National Police (LNP). At the same time, ArcelorMittal has called on its local consultative forums in communities along the rail line to be more vigilant in spotting and reporting illegal activities as the rainy season intensifies.
In September 2021, one of the company’s locomotives traveling from Tokadeh in Nimba County to Buchanan was targeted by criminal activities that resulted in an incident on the rail track around Kilometer 215 near Sanniquellie.
The presumed target of these criminals were the tarpaulins covering the iron ore wagons to keep out moisture from the iron ore. During that attack, some of the moving wagons were deliberately disconnected from its braking systems causing the wagons to veer off the rail track resulting in damage to a portion of the rail line.