PARADIP: At least 17 workers of a contract agency were injured when a goods train rammed into a pick-up van in the prohibited area of Paradip port on Tuesday. The injured have been admitted to Port Hospital in a critical condition.
Sources said Paradip Port Trust pressed Inland Engineering Pvt Ltd, a contract agency, for installation of himax lighting system in the prohibited area. A pick-up with the 17 workers of the agency was going to the port area when the driver stopped the vehicle on the railway tracks as the road ahead was not visible due to a cloud of black dust that had engulfed the area. During this time,a goods train rammed the van. On hearing the train sound, the workers jumped from the van but in the process 17 of them, including the driver, got seriously injured. Many of them have fractured their hands and legs, said sources.
A senior officer of PPT said, the workers are out of danger and no train services have been affected in the port area, he added.