Panic on the tracks: 12 die in freak Jalgaon train tragedy

At least 12 people were killed in a freak accident after they jumped off a train in panic amid rumours of a fire in a coach, and were mowed down by an express train running on the adjacent track in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra on Wednesday, officials said.

- Neha LM Tripathi

According to officials, people on board the Pushpak Express (train number 12533)—travelling from Lucknow to Mumbai—noticed smoke coming from under a bogie. This fanned the fear of a fire on board the train, prompting some of them to jump off hastily after pulling the alarm chain between Maheji and Pardhade stations, close to 400km from Mumbai, at around 4.30pm, the officials added.

"Our preliminary information is that there were sparks and smoke near one of the general coaches of Pushpak Express due to either 'hot axle' (axle of a train wheel overheating) or 'brake-binding' (jamming), and some passengers panicked. They pulled the chain, and some of them jumped down," a senior Indian Railways official said on condition of anonymity. The official added that the exact cause of the smoke will be known after a probe.

At the same time, the Karnataka Express (train number 12627)—running from Bengaluru to Delhi—was passing on the adjacent track at an estimated speed of 60-80km/hour when it ran over the Pushpak Express passengers who had disembarked and were moving across the track, the officials said.

"The state administration has confirmed 12 deaths," Dilip Kumar, the executive director of information and publicity, Railway Board, said. Shiv Sena leader and Jalgaon guardian minister Gulabrao Patil said "the casualties were likely to increase".