Toll mounts to 8; Naik orders probe

MUMBAI, OCT 24: A combination of railwaymen's negligence and foolishness of commuters led to the death of eight people near Nallasopara o...

MUMBAI, OCT 24: A combination of railwaymen’s negligence and foolishness of commuters led to the death of eight people near Nallasopara on the Western Railway on Thursday night.

The victims died on the spot after being allegedly struck by cement sleepers piled along the railway track between Vasai and Nallasopara and were flung at a distance, making it difficult to locate the bodies in the darkness, railway police said.

One commuter was seriously injured in the incident and was being treated at Bhagwati hospital in Boriwali.

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Although the exact cause of the accident was still not known, railway police said the victims who were either hanging by the door or sitting on the dashboard lost their grip and fell off after the local received a powerful jerk from a cement sleeper which slid on to the railway track.

Another version was that the victims were actually hit by one of the sleepers stocked along the track and were thrown out of the compartment.

Paveen Manubhai Shah, one of the deceased, had gone toBorivili to see his uncle off on the Kutch Express yesterday evening. According to his family, while coming back Paveen was standing near the doorway when all of a sudden a man sitting before him on the floor fell out of the train. “He clutched my only son for help and killed him too,” sobbed his father Manubhai Shah.

The 20-year-old boy was a final year graduate student in commerce who had promised to be back by eight at night after seeing off his uncle. “Yesterday he saw his uncle off, now his uncle is on his way back to see Paveen off on his last journey,” said his father.

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Meanwhile, tension prevailed in the suburb as news of the tragedy spread. Both Vasai and Nallasopara railway stations saw heavy bandobust of police personnel while most shops downed their shutters in respect for the dead.

Union Minister of State for Railways Ram Naik has ordered an enquiry to be conducted by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (Western Circle) and has also announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 15,000 each forthose who died and Rs 5,000 for Dhiraj Trivedi who lies injured at Bhagwati hospital.

He said the accident could have been averted if both the workers and the commuters had shown a better sense of safety.

However, the family of Anil Sharma, a 16-year-old boy who was hit by the cement blocks, would rather have a probe into the psyche of the public. Anil was sitting near the door with his brother Rakesh accompanying him three paces away. “I saw Anil sitting there after the train left Vasai, but when we reached Nallasopara I could not find him. Though the compartment was full of people, no one even cried out when he fell,” said a shocked Rakesh. Anil’s body was flown to his native place in New Delhi late this evening. Anil was hit on his limbs, dragged down by the impact and had the train run over him. “It happened right below me and I didn’t even know,” said Rakesh.

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The injuries have followed a similar pattern in all the victims, since they were all hit by the blocks with great force.

THEDEAD

1) Milan Ramniklal Gandhi (33)
2) Amaranth Nandi (30)
3) Hitesh B Shah (20)
4) Anil Shram (16)
5) Pavin M Shah (20)
6) Vijay V Parmar (age unknown)

Two bodies are yet to be identified.