Thane Government Railway Police (GRP) have recorded statements of those passengers who survived the fatal tragic incident near Mumbra railway station on Monday morning in which four passengers died while rest nine sustained injuries.
Two of the injured persons are critical and are undergoing treatment at the Jupiter hospital in Thane.
“Atleast two survivors, who are out of danger, told us that a bag hit the bunch of other commuters and due to its impact we all fell down. And since both the trains CSMT-Karjat and Kasara-CSMT were on high speed, passengers sustained severe injuries, on felling down,” said a senior GRP officer to The Indian Express.
“The four who died had sustained serious head injuries and subsequent excessive bleeding led to their deaths,” the senior officer added.
The Thane railway police have registered four accidental death reports and have handed the bodies of the deceased to their families and are further investigating the accident.
“We are probing into the tragic incident. We are in process of recording statements of the eye witnesses and injured passengers to know what exactly happened. We would check if there was any negligence. We would also look into if there was any error with the railways structural design. Railways too may be conducting an inquiry into the matter and if they submits report highlighting any negligence then accordingly we would file an FIR and appropriate legal course will be taken,” said M Rakesh Kalasagar, commissioner Mumbai Railway Police.
Another senior GRP officer said that such big local train accident did not occur in Mumbai ever.
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Did a combination of reduced safety buffer distance between two trains and overcrowding cause the accident ?
A GRP officer said there is a possibility that the tracks got pushed down a little due to the recent heavy rainfall in the area, tilting the trains a little more when passed through the curve, eventually reducing the buffer safety distance between trains, the officer indicated. Though the distance reduced between the tracks in this manner could be by a small margin, during peak hours, when passengers travel on the footboard due to overcrowding, it could lead to a small friction of passengers hanging in the door and could lead to fatal incidents. A thorough probe is, however, underway to ascertain the exact cause behind the incident.
