For 27-year-old Satish, a carpenter from Velachery, it was a regular, uneventful commute to work at Chengalpattu on Tuesday morning until the train reached St. Thomas Mount railway station.
Seeing the commotion there, he rushed to help passengers who had fallen off a train after hitting the concrete fence abutting platform number 3.
Four died and six were injured after they hit the concrete fence at the station around 8.25 a.m. There was blood on the railway tracks, strands of hair on the fence, and footwear strewn all over.
Hours later, an exhausted Mr. Satish, his clothes bloodstained, watched as policemen and railway officials inspected the accident site. “I was travelling in the last coach and I heard some commotion. After coming to know what had happened, I pulled many passengers to safety. However three of them died on the spot,” he said.
Salim, another passenger, said that the railways should demolish the concrete fence. “Had it not been there, the deaths would not have happened. Many deaths have happened due to this structure,” he claimed. His friend, Shabir, said that the number of trains should be increased to reduce overcrowding.
Rekha, a commuter, recalled the horror she had seen. “There was a feeble announcement about the Tirumalpur-bound (Kancheepuram district) train arriving on platform number 4. When the train halted, I spotted a lot of youngsters lying down on the platform and watching the tracks. There were severed body parts strewn around,” she said.
A commuter from Hasthinapuram in Chromepet, Chitra Kumaresan, who was travelling on the ill-fated train, said it was packed. Suddenly, she said, commuters began screaming as many passengers travelling on the footboard were thrown off.
2 deaths on Monday
On Monday evening, Stephen Muthuraj, 24, of Nazareth, Thoothukudi, and Vigneshwar, 23, of Selaiyur died after they hit the same concrete fence at the station. The accident happened around 7.15 p.m. Their bodies were sent to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and handed over to their relatives after post-mortem on Tuesday.
The Divisional Railway Manager, Chennai Division, Naveen Gulati, and other railway officials rushed to the spot. “Regarding the incident, it is noticed that there was no infringement as per railway rules. However, in view of the unfortunate incident, the matter is being studied by the railways to identify further steps to be taken to avoid such incidents,” said an official.
₹1 lakh solatium
Condoling the deaths in the accident, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced a solatium of ₹1 lakh each to the families of the deceased. He also announced compensation of ₹50,000 each to those who were severely injured in the incident.
Published - July 25, 2018 01:22 am IST
