Maharashtra train accident: Death toll in Jalgaon mishap revised to 12; all bodies identified

Mumbai: The death toll in the Jalgaon train accident was revised to 12 after officials confirmed on Thursday that a head and a torso, initially thought to belong to different individuals, were from the same person.

A state government official said that earlier the figure had been arrived at 13 as a woman’s body and a head were found at the scene of the accident, but a man identified the body parts as that of his mother.

The tragedy took place when some passengers of the 12533 Mumbai-bound Pushpak Express got off the train after an alarm chain-pulling incident and were run over by the Karnataka Express on the adjacent tracks on Wednesday evening.

“The Government Medical College (in Jalgaon) has officially stated that the total number of dead persons is 12 as the torso and body are of the same deceased (female) identified by her son,” he said.

The official said all bodies have been identified and they were being handed over to their respective families.

A team of five senior railway officials has initiated an inquiry into the train accident, the Railway Board said on Thursday.

Of those who lost their lives on the tracks, seven hailed from Nepal.

Lachchiram Khataru Pasi was among those seven persons. His family not only had to bear the grief of his death but also go through the extremely traumatic process of identifying him from mutilated body parts.

Pasi’s companions, who survived the tragedy, narrated how they remained huddled in the cramped space between the two trains to save themselves.

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

Pasi’s nephew Ramrang Pasi, who lives in Jalgaon, said his uncle hailed from Narainapur in Nepal’s Banke district and was in his 50s.

“Some portions of his hands and legs are missing,” Ramrang told PTI.

He said his uncle was travelling on the Pushpak Express to Thane from Nepal via Lucknow with five others, all daily wagers. Barring Pasi, the others survived, he said.

They identified his uncle from his face and clothes, but the sight was so scary that their minds went blank for a moment, Ramrang said. They wanted to take his uncle’s mortal remains to his native place in the Himalayan country, he added.

Recounting the horror, Shaukat Ali, a worker from Nepal who was travelling with Lachchiram, said, “A fire rumour spread on the train. We saw smoke inside the bogie. When the train slowed, we hastily stepped down and the train got empty.”

As they got off, another train moving in the opposite direction approached within a couple of minutes. Before they could comprehend what was happening, everyone started running helter-skelter to save their lives while there was no place to escape, he said.

“We found a small space between the two trains and we laid down there, tightly holding each other, hence we survived," Ali said.

The accident occurred between Maheji and Pardhade stations near Pachora town, about 400 km from Mumbai.

Of the 15 injured passengers, 10 were undergoing treatment – nine at Pachora civil hospital and one at a medical facility in Jalgaon city. Others who suffered minor injuries were discharged, an official said.

A team of Central Railway 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.

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

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said in Pune on Thursday that the accident was due to a “sheer rumour” about a fire by a tea seller on the Pushpak Express, which led to panic and some passengers jumping off.