Six commuters killed at Chennai suburban train station after hitting wall

Chennai: Six passengers travelling on the footboard of crowded suburban trains during rush hour died after crashing into a concrete track fence at St Thomas Mount railway station here in two accidents in little over 13 hours, police said on Tuesday.

Those dead included three students aged between 16 and 25 years. Six people were also injured. The first mishap took place around 7 pm Monday when two commuters of Chennai Beach-Chengalpattu train hit against the wall and fell to their death.

A little over 13 hours later at 8.30 a.m, 10 people perched precariously on the footboard of another suburban train hit the wall, about 50 metres from the scene of the first tragedy, and fell in a heap on the rugged surface. Four of them died, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said.

Medical teams including vascular surgeons were treating those injured at government hospitals. The legs of one of the injured were severed in the accident. Kanchipuram District Collector P Ponniah and senior railway and police officials inspected the scene of the twin accidents.

Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, Health Secretary Radhakrishnan, and some other senior government officials visited the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital at Park Town and Government Hospital in Royapettah to inquire about the condition of the injured.

Chennai Divisional Railway Manager Naveen Gulati said there was a heavy rush of passengers today morning as trains were running late due to lack of power supply on the suburban line.

A large number of people had boarded the train involved in the second accident which was diverted to the main line used by fast trains. Many of them were travelling on the footboard, he said.