Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday (January 23) attributed the Jalgaon train accident to a “sheer rumour” of a fire spread by a tea seller aboard the Pushpak Express, causing panic and prompting some passengers to jump off.
Some passengers of the Lucknow-Mumbai Pushpak Express, who got off the train after an alarm chain-pulling incident, were run over by the Karnataka Express heading from Bengaluru to Delhi on the adjacent tracks in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district on Wednesday evening.
Thirteen persons were killed and 15 injured in the accident, as per officials.
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Fire rumour
Speaking to reporters in Pune, Pawar said, “A tea seller from the pantry shouted about a fire having broken out in a coach.” Two passengers from Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh heard it and conveyed the false alarm to others, leading to confusion and panic in their general coach and the adjoining one.”
Some of the scared passengers jumped off the train from both sides to save themselves, Pawar said.
As the train was speeding, a passenger pulled the alarm chain. “After the train halted, people started getting down and got run over by the Karnataka Express on the adjacent track,” he said.
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Bodies mutilated
The impact was so powerful that several passengers lost their lives and the bodies got mutilated, Pawar said.
“The accident resulted from a sheer rumour about fire,” the deputy CM said.
Of the 13 persons who died, 10 have been identified, he said.
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Rumour mongers injured
The two passengers, who reportedly spread the rumor, were among those injured in the incident, he said.
(With Agency inputs)
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