MUMBAI: Incessant rains lashed Mumbai and suburban areas for the fifth day in a row on Tuesday throwing the transport network of the city out of gear.
Around 2,000 passengers of two Mumbai-bound trains, that got stuck between Nallasopara and Vasai stations of the Western Railway due to water-logging, were rescued by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel on Tuesday morning. The passengers were rescued by using boats and were brought to Naigaon railway station by the NDRF team.
In another operation, roughly 66 people who were marooned in water-logged salt panes of Vasai in Palghar district, were rescued by fire brigade teams, the police and local people. Around 450 workers on the salt panes had refused to leave the place though the authorities offered to evacuate them. The efforts fructified on Tuesday.
However, only elderly people and children were rescued, the authorities said.Among the rescued people was a pregnant woman from Mithagar who needed urgent medical attention. The woman was rescued area in a boat and was shifted to hospital.
Due to waterlogging between Virar and Vasai road stations, about 150 suburban services of Western Railways were cancelled and roughly 50 services were delayed.
The Central Railway administration cancelled several trains on Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Nashik routes on Tuesday. All AC local trains on the Western Line too have been cancelled till further order.
The bad weather also delayed several flights. A total of 318 departing flights were affected with an average delay of 53 minutes while 89 arriving flights were delayed by 25 minutes.
Flight overshoots runway in Mumbai
As many as 89 people on board an Air India Express flight had a narrow escape as the aircraft overshot the runway while landing at the Mumbai airport amid heavy rains.