- Thursday, January 23, 2025
The Karnataka Express driver applied brakes after seeing the flasher light signal of Pushpak Express, however, its braking distance was affected by the track curvature
By: India Weekly
A TRACK curvature prima facie affected the visibility for the Karnataka Express train which mowed down at least 13 passengers in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district, railway officials said.
The passengers of Lucknow-CSMT Pushpak Express got down on tracks amid a fire rumour, only to be tragically run over by the Karnataka Express train on the adjacent tracks on Wednesday evening, officials said.
Fifteen persons were also injured in the incident.
Drivers of both the trains followed the protocol and tried their best to avoid the accident, the railway officials said.
The driver of the Lucknow-CSMT Pushpak Express had turned on the flasher light as per the rule when the train stopped between Maheji and Pardhade stations near Pachora, more than 400 km from Mumbai, a senior Central Railway official said.
The Karnataka Express driver applied brakes after seeing the flasher light signal of Pushpak Express, he said.
“However, the visibility of the train (Karnataka Express) and its braking distance was affected by the track curvature,” the official said citing preliminary information.
Trains run at more than 100 kmph in this section which falls under the trunk route of the Railways, according to officials.
The tragedy unfolded on Wednesday (22) when passengers onboard Pushpak Express, fearing a blaze, hastily jumped onto the adjacent tracks and were run over by the oncoming Karnataka Express heading from Bengaluru to Delhi, they said.
The Pushpak Express had halted around 4.45 pm after someone pulled the chain, Central Railway officials said.
Dilip Kumar, Executive Director, Information and Publicity, Railway Board, however, denied that any spark or fire inside the coach caused passengers to pull the alarm.
In a video message from Davos in Switzerland, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “Some passengers in the train mistakenly assumed that smoke is coming out of the train and they jumped. Unfortunately, they were run over by another train.”
Manoj Arora, Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Central Circle, said he would reach the accident site on Thursday morning.
Arora said statements of passengers and other eye-witnesses will be recorded.
Four victims hail from Nepal
The sorrow of the family of a Nepalese man killed in the Jalgaon train accident knew no bounds as they had to identify him through the mutilated body parts.
Lachchiram Khataru Pasi was among the four persons hailing from Nepal who died along with nine others when some passengers of the Mumbai-bound Pushpak Express, who got off the train after an alarm chain-pulling incident, were run over by the Karnataka Express on the adjacent tracks in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district on Wednesday evening.
Pasi’s companions, who survived the tragedy, also narrated how they remained huddled in a cramped space between the two trains to save themselves.
At least four out of the 13 persons killed in the Jalgaon train accident on Wednesday have been identified as hailing from Nepal, authorities said on Thursday.
A minor boy and two women were among the four Nepalese victims, they said.
The four Nepalese victims have been identified as Kamala Navin Bhandari (43) (who lived at Colaba in Mumbai), Javakala Bhate (60) (who resided at Bhiwandi in Thane), Lachchiram Khataru Pasi (40) and Imtiyaz Ali (11), as per a list provided by authorities.
Lachchiram Pasi’s nephew Ramrang Pasi, who lives in Jalgaon, said his uncle hailed from Narainapur in Nepal’s Banke district and was in his 50s.
“Some portions of his hands and legs are missing,” Ramrang told PTI.
He said his uncle was travelling on the Pushpak Express to Thane from Nepal via Lucknow with five other persons, who all are day wagers and survived the tragedy, he said.
Fire rumour by tea-seller: Ajit Pawar
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said the Jalgaon train accident was the result of a “sheer rumour” about fire by a tea-seller inside the Pushpak Express, which led to panic and some passengers jumping off.
Pawar told reporters in Pune, “A tea-seller from the pantry shouted about a fire having broken out in a coach.”
Two passengers from Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh heard it and conveyed the false alarm to others, leading to confusion and panic in their general coach and the adjoining one, he said.
Some of the scared passengers jumped off the train from both the sides to save themselves, Pawar said.
As the train was speeding, a passenger pulled the alarm chain. “After the train halted, people started getting down and got run over by the Karnataka Express on the adjacent track,” he said.
“The accident was the result of a sheer rumour about fire,” the deputy CM said.
Of the 13 persons who died, 10 have been identified, he said.
The two passengers, who reportedly spread the rumour, was among those injured in the incident, he said. (PTI)
