Three young men were killed during rush hour on Thursday morning after being knocked off the local train they were travelling in. The accident occurred between Nahur and Bhandup stations. At least 25 others were injured in separate incidents.
Around 9 am Thursday, these passengers, who were hanging out of a massively overcrowded Badlapur local were hit by a metal maintenance platform dangling from a signal post.
The three dead have been identified as Pratik Chedda, 25, from Dombivali, Jiten Wara, 29, from Kalwa, and Ganesh Yadav, 20, from Mulund.
The overcrowding, beyond the usual, followed the reduction in services on the Central line due to a fire in the signal cabins at Kurla and Vidyavihar stations on Wednesday.
The Government Railway Police has registered a case against the Railways signalling staff for causing death due to negligence. “While inspecting the spot, the investigation revealed that the stand used for maintaining signals, which is attached by a screw, had come loose. The incident could have been avoided if officials had cared to attach it,” a release from Kurla GRP stated.
A CR release however said the “freak incident” was a result of extreme overcrowding. Rail minister Mukul Roy has announced `2 lakh in compensation for the kin of the deceased passengers.
The train accident victims were rushed to hospitals across the city for treatment. While the victims were first rushed to Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar and MT Agarwal Hospital in Mulund, a few were later shifted to Sion, Godrej, Bhabha, Fortis, KEM and Sapna Hospitals. In-charge of peripheral hospitals, Dr Seema Malick, who was present at MT Agarwal, and taking stock of the situation said, “We received six train mishap victims. One died almost at the time of admission. All attempts to save him failed as he suffered grave injuries.” The other victims at MT Agarwal had not suffered any critical injuries as almost all sustained a fracture in their arm.