BHOPAL: At least four passengers, including three women and a child, were run over to death by a speeding train in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday.
The incident happened at around 4.15 pm near Hetampur railway station, around 23 km from Morena district headquarters, following a false fire alarm raised by a passenger travelling in one of the general (unreserved) coaches of 19665 Khajuraho-Udaipur Intercity Express in the Hetampur-Dholpur section of North Central Railway’s Jhansi Division.
According to reports from Morena district, a mobile phone perhaps burst during charging in the general coach of the long-distance train, after which a false fire alarm was sounded by passengers in the coach.
The train came to a halt following the Alarm Chain Pulling (ACP) by one of the passengers, after which some of the panic-struck passengers reportedly stepped down from the train.
While the panicked passengers who had gotten off the the train stood on the adjacent track, the speeding 20424 Firozpur-Seoni Patalkot Express train ran over at least four killing all of them on the spot.
The four deceased passengers, including three women and one child have been identified as Afreen (35) and her son Asad (4), besides Shakuntala (60) and Virma Devi (58). The deceased possibly hailed from Agra (UP) and Bikaner (Rajasthan).
It’s yet not clear whether some other passengers have been injured in the mishap or not.
Senior officials of the railway protection force (RPF), government railway police (GRP) and local administration and police rushed to the spot, where the Udaipur-bound train remained halted till filing of this report.
According to an official statement released by the Indian Railways, a detailed inquiry is being conducted to ascertain the causes and circumstances of the mishap.