A minimum of 12 individuals have been killed and 11 individuals injured in India on Wednesday night after they stepped off a prepare and have been hit by one other one whereas on the tracks, the native authorities mentioned.
The passengers had disembarked after rumors of a hearth on their prepare unfold panic amongst these onboard, the authorities mentioned.
The accident occurred round 5 p.m. in Maharashtra State, about 170 miles northeast of Mumbai, mentioned Ashok Pawar, a police inspector on the Pachora police station. The passengers have been aboard the Pushpak Categorical, a prepare touring from Lucknow, in northern India, to Mumbai within the west, when phrase unfold onboard of a hearth, he mentioned.
Panic ensued, and folks started to go away the prepare when it will definitely got here to a cease, Mr. Pawar mentioned. They have been hit by one other prepare, the Karnataka Categorical, passing by on an adjoining monitor.
It was unclear what number of passengers had been on the Pushpak Categorical. Mr. Pawar mentioned the prepare had been full of individuals, lots of them migrant employees touring for work. The accident, he mentioned, left victims with extreme accidents.
The authorities mentioned that they have been trying into the episode.
“We are going to examine precisely what was the explanation, whether or not there was an precise hearth or whether or not it’s only a rumor unfold by any mischievous particular person,” Maheswar Reddy, the superintendent of police in Jalgaon District, the place the accident occurred, said to reporters.
Mr. Pawar, the inspector, mentioned seven individuals who had died have been from Nepal and 4 have been from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the place Lucknow is. One physique remained unidentified, and households of the victims have been now in Jalgaon, he mentioned.
Devendra Fadnavis, the highest authorities official in Maharashtra, mentioned late Wednesday that eight ambulances had been dispatched to the scene. The state authorities would provide monetary help to the households of the victims, he said on social media, and would cowl bills for individuals who have been injured.
The accident raised extra questions across the security of prepare journey in India, the place hundreds of thousands of individuals depend upon an unlimited however accident-prone railway community for transport, particularly in rural areas.
