India: At least 12 passengers die after jumping onto tracks following train fire alert

NEW DELHI– At least 12 train passengers were killed on Wednesday after being hit by another service on an adjacent track in western India after they jumped from their carriage in panic to escape a rumor of a fire, a report said. reported the Press Trust of India.

At least six other people were injured and taken to nearby hospitals, the news agency quoted police officer Dattatraya Karale as saying.

The accident occurred in Maharashtra state, near Pardhade railway station, 410 kilometers southwest of Mumbai, India’s financial capital.

PTI said the victims jumped from the Pushpak Express train, which had stopped after some passengers pulled an emergency chain. Those who disembarked were hit by another express train on the adjacent railway track, railway spokesperson Swapnil Nila said, citing PTI.

“Our preliminary information indicates that there was sparking inside one of the Pushpak Express coaches due to either a ‘hot axle’ or ‘brake sticking’ (locking), and some passengers panicked. They pulled on the chain and some of them jumped onto the tracks. At the same time, the Karnataka Express was passing on the adjacent track,” a senior railway official told PTI.

Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, hundreds of accidents occur every year on the Indian Railways, which is the largest single-managed railway network in the world.

In 2023, two passenger trains collided after derailing in eastern India, killing more than 280 people and injuring hundreds in one of the country’s deadliest rail accidents in decades.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focused on modernizing the British colonial-era railway network in India, which has become the world’s most populous country with 1.42 billion people.