New Delhi: The death toll in the Jalgaon train accident has gone up to 13 with the recovery of a headless body along the railway tracks, police said on Thursday. Passengers of the Mumbai-bound Pushpak Express got off the train after hearing about fire spreading in the train. However, many were run over by the Karnataka Express heading from Bengaluru to Delhi on the adjacent tracks in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said the Jalgaon train accident was the result of a “sheer rumour” about fire by a tea-seller inside the Pushpak Express. “A tea-seller from the pantry shouted about a fire having broken out in a coach,” Pawar said.
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, he said. Some of the scared passengers jumped off the train from both the sides to save themselves, Pawar said.
Eyewitness, aboard Pushpak Express, recalled that the chaos started after people shouted that there was a fire. One of the injured admitted to the hospital, Hakim Ansari said, “People shouted that there was a fire. After that, everyone started running away. Pushpak Express stopped because the chain was pulled. The injuries happened after the Karnataka Express came on the other track…”
Another injured person, undergoing treatment at a hospital said, “We got off the train after everyone said that there had been a fire… We stopped the train and started running. Another train came from the other side and the people got it…”
8 of 13 killed identified: Police
As of now, the Police have identified eight bodies, including two from their Aadhaar cards, said Special Inspector General of Police Dattatraya Karale. The eight identified deceased include four hailing from Nepal, Jalgaon district information officer Yuvraj Patil said.
Out of the 15 persons injured in the incident, 10 were currently undergoing treatment — nine at the Pachora civil hospital and one at a medical facility in Jalgaon city — while the others who suffered minor injuries were discharged, he said.
In a video message from Davos in Switzerland, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said, “Some passengers in the train mistakenly assumed that smoke was coming out of the train and they jumped. Unfortunately, they were run over by another train.”
The CM announced a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of the passengers who died in the tragedy. The Railway Board separately announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1.5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased, Rs 50,000 for grievous wounds and Rs 5,000 for simple injuries.