Aurangabad: Train accident survivors raised alarm; went unheard

Aurangabad: Survivors of the Aurangabad train accident frantically raised alarm to alert their group members sleeping on tracks about a fast-approaching freight train, but it all went in vain as 16 of them were crushed to death at the crack of dawn on Friday.

Chilling details emerged about the tragedy involving a group of migrant workers who were on their way to native places in Madhya Pradesh on foot from Maharashtra and had taken a break to rest on rail tracks out of sheer fatigue.

The accident left 16 migrant workers dead and one injured while three others survived. All of them were working in a steel manufacturing in Jalna, a district adjoining Aurangabad in central Maharashtra, and were heading home in the amidst of coronavirus-enforced lockdown, officials said.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday termed the death of 14 migrant workers in the Aurangabad train accident as heart-wrenching and said the Centre must work closely in unison with state governments to ensure labourers reach their homes safely.

One of the survivors of the Aurangabad train accident on Friday said the group of migrant workers had applied for e-transit passes a week ago but decided to walk towards their home state after not receiving any response from authorities.

"A group of 20 stranded labourers started walking from Jalna. They decided to take rest and most of them lay on the rail tracks. Three of them were taking rest in an area nearby.

"After some time, these three saw a goods train coming and immediately raised the alarm but it went unheard," Superintendent of Police Mokshada Patil told PTI.

"I had a word with the survivors. They started walking from Jalna and tried to reach Bhusaval on earlier night which is around 30-40 km away from the place of the accident (near Karmad near Aurangabad)," Patil said.

"The three survivors, who were resting a little away, tried to wake up the people sleeping on the tracks by frantically shouting, but that provide futile as the train ran over them," the police officer said.

"This is an unfortunate incident. Out of the 20 people, 16 died, one is injured and three are with us. A case will be registered at the Karmad police station," she added.