Accident victim shifted to hospital in 10 mins: Central Railway

A day after DNA reported that K Neelkanthan, Mumbai’s assistant postal superintendent, died after falling off the train near Byculla, Central Railway officials clarified that he was shifted to St George’s Hospital within 10 minutes.

While defending their action of admitting Neelkanthan to the 4.5km-away St George’s Hospital, instead of the Byculla railway hospital which lies about 500 metre from the accident site, the officials said the incident occurred in the mid-section between Byculla and Sandhurst Road stations and hence the decision to take him to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus  (CST).

“MS Pandian, the  on-duty stationmanager at Byculla, got the information at 1.30pm on March 28, that an unknown male age about 40 yrs had fallen from a moving train at KM 3/1-2,’’ said a senior official.

“He rushed to the site along with a government railway police constable and a hamal, rendered first aid to the injured and then sent him to St George’s Hospital by a CST-bound train at 1.40pm,’’ he added.

Neelkanthan died due to heavy blood loss caused by the fatal fall from the moving train. Local railway officials shifted the bleeding Neelkanthan to St George’s Hospital at CST losing the crucial golden hour.

He died on Wednesday.