Six persons were killed and 11 others injured in a bizarre railroad accident when an "unauthorized person" drove a suburban electric train for about 3.5 miles (7 kms) unnoticed before ramming it into a goods train near Vyasarpadi Jeeva station in Chennai, of the South Indian coastal state of Tamil Nadu, reports say.
Southern Railway General Manager M S Jayanth said the Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) parked in the Moore Market complex railroad station started "unauthorizedly" half-an-hour earlier than the scheduled 5:15 a.m. local time, and took a wrong line before colliding with an engine hauling empty wagons.
On seeing the fast-approaching EMU towards them, two drivers (engineers) of the other train jumped off the locomotive.
Railway officials at the accident site said the speedometer of the EMU showed it had clocked 91 km/h at the time of the accident.
While two compartments of the EMU were destroyed in a fire triggered by the collision, the rest of the train with a few passengers, who had boarded the train thinking it was a regular service, were thrown off the tracks. Eleven persons, including the two drivers (engineers) of the goods train were hospitalized.
Some bodies are believed to be trapped inside the coaches, officials said, adding fire and rescue services personnel were using welding equipment to cut through some mangled coaches.
Inter-state and suburban train services on the accident route were disrupted due to the accident. Many trains were running behind schedule by at least three hours, officials said.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com