4 Nepalese among 13 persons killed in Jalgaon train accident

Mumbai: At least four out of the 13 persons killed in the Jalgaon train accident have been identified as hailing from Nepal, authorities said on Thursday.

A minor boy and two women were among the four Nepalese victims, they said.

At least 13 persons were killed and 15 injured after some passengers of the Mumbai-bound Pushpak Express, who got off the train after an alarm chain-pulling incident, were run over by the Karnataka Express on the adjacent tracks in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district on Wednesday evening.

“Of the 13, we have identified eight bodies so far, including two from their Aadhaar cards,” Special Inspector General of Police Dattatraya Karale told PTI.

The eight identified deceased include four hailing from Nepal, Jalgaon district information officer Yuvraj Patil said.

As per the list provided by authorities, the four Nepalese victims have been identified as Kamala Navin Bhandari (43) (who lived at Colaba in Mumbai), Javakala Bhate (60) (who resided at Bhiwandi in Thane), Lachchiram Khataru Pasi (40) and Imtiyaz Ali (11).

Out of the injured persons, 10 were currently undergoing treatment - nine at the Pachora civil hospital and one at a medical facility in Jalgaon city. The others who suffered minor injuries were discharged, Patil said.

A team of the Central Railway personnel on Wednesday night visited the hospitals and distributed a total ex-gratia of Rs 2.70 lakh to nine of the injured passengers, an official said.

The accident took place between Maheji and Pardhade stations near Pachora town in north Maharashtra's Jalgaon district, when the Lucknow-Mumbai Pushpak Express halted after someone pulled the chain at around 4.45 pm on Wednesday, Central Railway officials earlier said.

Some passengers onboard the Pushpak Express, fearing a blaze, hastily jumped onto the adjacent tracks and were run over by the oncoming Karnataka Express heading from Bengaluru to Delhi, as per officials.

Dilip Kumar, Executive Director, Information and Publicity, Railway Board, however, denied that any spark or fire inside the coach caused passengers to pull the alarm.

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 is 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 the 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.