Image credit : Illustrative image

Chennai : In a ghastly incident, four persons travelling on footboard of a local suburban train in Chennai died and 10 injured seriously when the train rammed into a compound early Tuesday morning near St Thomas Mount Station.

The accident site presented a gory sight with heads of the deceased smashed and thrown away from the torso. Broken pieces of the heads of couple of commuters could be found strewn around at the site of the accident.

The train was moving on a track meant for express trains, running parallel to a wall. Since the train was overcrowded, a few commuters travelling on footboard of the train smashed into the wall and received fatal injuries. Four of those injured died and another nine have been admitted to Royapettah hospital and the Rajiv Gandhi government hospital. The condition of few was reported to be critical. The death toll in the accident could rise.

The bodies of the deceased were kept at Royapettah hospital, where the authorities sent out messages to their near dear ones.

Senior officials rushed to the spot and inspected the spot.

According to preliminary investigation of the Railway Protection Force, the tragic incident took place because of overcrowding in the train, due to which commuters were hanging on the footboard, a daily occurrence in local trains and city buses.

Incidentally last night too, a similar accident near the same spot at St Thomas Mount, claimed two lives, police said.

Senior RPF official, ADG Shailendra Babu, told media persons that the reason for the accident could very well be footboard travelling. “It is a tragedy that people ignore warnings from the authorities and continue with dangerous travel on footboards,” the senior RPF official said.

Members of the TN Railway Passenger association has been demanding the replacement of the open door coaches with closed door coaches to prevent accidents like this, but to no avail.