CHENNAI: In a tragic accident, three young men travelling on the footboard of a Chennai Beach-bound suburban train died after the backpack of one of them reportedly got stuck to a signal post, on the stretch between St Thomas Mount and Pazhavanthagal, on Thursday morning. Two of them, identified Praveen Raj, (19), and Manikandan, (22), both from Perungalathur, died on the spot after they went under the wagon wheels. The third victim, Samuel Jeba Singh, (23), succumbed to injuries in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) at around 3 pm. Four more injured commuters are undergoing treatment at RGGGH.
“We are still inquiring. It appears that the backpack of one of the commuters got stuck on the ladder of the signal post,” said a GRP officer at the site. He added that based on witness statements it was ascertained that when the one whose bag got stuck fell down, he tried to catch another commuter. Each of the seven commuters fell one after the other, leading to the tragedy.
People started assembling at the site in large numbers and many were seen trying to film the body parts and organs strewn on the tracks and recording the proceedings. “There is so much blood all around. I have never seen something so horrible ever,” said Joel Geroge, a student who arrived at the site after the incident. “Look, there is the heart of someone,” said a young boy to his friend, with whom he rushed to site after hearing about the accident.
Senior Railway officials, including the additional DRM, rushed to the spot to look into the incident and ascertain causes. Meanwhile, the Government Railway Police (GRP) officers of the Egmore division cleared the bodies and moved the injured to the hospital. “We have looked into the incident and this is a case of passenger negligence,” said a senior Southern Railway official.
According to data from the Southern Railway, the zone has 580 suburban EMU trains running daily on various routes. There are 151 services towards Arakkonam from Moore Market Complex, 74 services towards Sulurpet and Beach, and 224 services between Chennai Beach and Tambaram.
