4 hurt in freak train mishap

Four people including a woman were injured during the wee hours of Wednesday when the rail maintenance vehicle (RMV) rammed from the rear side into Konkankanya Express which halted inside the Karbude tunnel between Ukshi and Bhoke stations near Ratnagiri which is 330 kms from Mumbai along the western coast of the Konkan region.

The train, which was coming towards Mumbai from Madgaon, was brought to a halt after a passenger allegedly pulled the chain at 12.05 am.

RMV makes constant rounds to monitor the entire stretch to prevent major en route accidents. When the train came to a forcible halt inside the tunnel, the RMV came from behind and, in the pitch darkness of the night and the inside of tunnel, rammed into the train injuring four passengers.

The accident relief medical van was immediately rushed to the spot to treat the passengers. Three took the following train to Sangameshwar for their onward journey, while one passenger was admitted to a local hospital in Ratnagiri.

“Passengers informed that a CISF personnel who was allegedly drunk, got into a brawl with a co-passenger and that one of them had pulled the alarm chain,” said Vaishali Patange, a senior Konkan Railway spokesperson.

A senior KRCL official informed that this was the first of its kind accident on the section. “The entire section is so sensitive that any obstruction on the tracks is identifiable. However, here if the maintenance vehicle did not observe the train standing ahead and rammed into it, the incident needs to be inquired into,” the official said.