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ShareEleven coaches of the Bangalore-bound 6505 Down Gandhidham-Bengaluru Express derailed between Bhiwandi Road and Kopar stations at 12.35 am on Wednesday. Witnesses said that at least 12 passengers were injured, but the Central Railway (CR) authorities claimed that only two sustained minor injuries.
The injured -- Jaikisan Rohida, 44 and Prabhaben Dhamjibhai, 38 -- were given first aid by a railway doctor. Locals said that the mishap took place just after the train crossed the bridge near Kopar. It would have been a fatal accident for many passengers had the train derailed on the bridge, they added. The CR said that it was yet to ascertain the cause of the accident.
"The train was travelling at great speed. Immediately after it crossed the bridge, there was a loud sound. It was like an explosion. I was thrown off my birth," Dhiren Derasari, 47, a passenger, said.
"None of us inside had any idea what exactly had happened. We could not get out until the locals came to our help. We were shocked to see so many coaches thrown off the tracks," he added.
Deepesh Mhatre, a resident of Devicha Pada, who was among the first to rush to the spot, said he had feared that many would be found dead. "Fortunately, no one died in the mishap."
Railway was forewarned
Theaccident happened at 12.35 am. But a local had sensed the danger in advance. Prashant Redij, from Devicha Pada, Dombivli, said that he had tried to alert the railway authorities about "a loud noise" heard close to the tracks nearly one-and-half hours before the mishap.
Prashant, whose home is just 30ft away from the tracks, was about to go to sleep, when he heard the unusually loud noise, as a train passed by. Sensing danger, Prashant, with the help of his daughter, Priya, 11, sent an sms to the railway helpline (900441111). "There was no reply to my sms. Later, there was another loud noise. Looking out of my window, I saw the derailed train," he said.
'Misdirected' sms
SC Mudgerikar, chief PRO of the CR, said that Prashant had sent the sms to a wrong number. "The message was received on our feedback scheme number. Later, we checked and found that two trains had passed the site in the period between the sms reaching us and the mishap happening." Central Railway arranged a relief train to take the stranded passengers to Bangalore.
