Lagos: Thirty-one passengers were taken hostage after gunmen attacked a train station in south Nigeria's Edo state, a spokesperson for the state government said.

A group of gunmen broke into the Igueben train station on Saturday evening, firing shots sporadically in the air and kidnapping passengers who were heading for Warri, a city in the neighboring Delta state.

Initially 32 people were taken hostage and one managed to escape, Chris Nehikhare, the spokesperson, told reporters in state capital Benin City on Sunday.

Security operatives had started combing the bushes around the station in search of the fleeing gunmen and the kidnapped victims, said Nehikhare.

(With UNI inputs)