They were away from the coach door, but got pulled out
Ekatha.Ann@timesgroup.com 26.07.2018
Vignesh V, a second-year BCom student, knows travelling on footboard is illegal and can be dangerous. Which is why the 18-year-old elbowed his way through a packed compartment on Tuesday morning while boarding the train from Saidapet to his college in Pallavaram.
The teen managed to find a spot away from the open door but that was of little help as a concrete wall at St Thomas Mount Railway Station wiped his co-passengers off the footboard and he was dragged out. “I heard people shout. Before I understood what was happening, someone had grabbed my leg and pulled me out,” said Vignesh, who recalled being jammed into the narrow gap between the train and the platform.
“I saw faces peering down at me. I passed out after that,” said the teen who regained consciousness at Government Royapettah Hospital (GRH). Vignesh ended up with a fracture to the jaw and a leg, and abrasions on the chest.
Adjacent to his bed lay 23-yearold Naresh Kumar, who works in a salon. He, too, like Vignesh, maintains he was not travelling on the footboard. Someone had yanked his bag. “I fell backwards. I tried to hold someone’s shirt, but my hand slipped,” said Kumar, who sustained a minor head injury and a fracture on his left leg. He had blacked out after falling from the train. Asked why he had boarded the crowded train, he said the trains plying between Beach and Tambaram were delayed on Tuesday morning. “I just got into the first one that came,” he said.
Doctors at the hospital said both of them would have to undergo surgeries before they can resume normal life. “They will require implants before being discharged,” said Dr Anand Pratap, resident medical officer at GRH.
Doctors at the hospital were surprised that railway officials did not offer food to the families in the hospital, like they routinely do when there is an accident. When one of the doctors questioned a railway official by the patient’s bedside, she shrugged. “It was the passengers’ negligence. It isn’t the railways’ fault,” she said.
Vignesh, who was within earshot, retorted weakly, “I’ve been travelling by train for the past two years. Even people who travel on footboard regularly take some precautions. They would have probably if they knew the line was being changed and a wall was there.”
Ekatha.Ann@timesgroup.com 26.07.2018
Vignesh V, a second-year BCom student, knows travelling on footboard is illegal and can be dangerous. Which is why the 18-year-old elbowed his way through a packed compartment on Tuesday morning while boarding the train from Saidapet to his college in Pallavaram.
The teen managed to find a spot away from the open door but that was of little help as a concrete wall at St Thomas Mount Railway Station wiped his co-passengers off the footboard and he was dragged out. “I heard people shout. Before I understood what was happening, someone had grabbed my leg and pulled me out,” said Vignesh, who recalled being jammed into the narrow gap between the train and the platform.
“I saw faces peering down at me. I passed out after that,” said the teen who regained consciousness at Government Royapettah Hospital (GRH). Vignesh ended up with a fracture to the jaw and a leg, and abrasions on the chest.
Adjacent to his bed lay 23-yearold Naresh Kumar, who works in a salon. He, too, like Vignesh, maintains he was not travelling on the footboard. Someone had yanked his bag. “I fell backwards. I tried to hold someone’s shirt, but my hand slipped,” said Kumar, who sustained a minor head injury and a fracture on his left leg. He had blacked out after falling from the train. Asked why he had boarded the crowded train, he said the trains plying between Beach and Tambaram were delayed on Tuesday morning. “I just got into the first one that came,” he said.
Doctors at the hospital said both of them would have to undergo surgeries before they can resume normal life. “They will require implants before being discharged,” said Dr Anand Pratap, resident medical officer at GRH.
Doctors at the hospital were surprised that railway officials did not offer food to the families in the hospital, like they routinely do when there is an accident. When one of the doctors questioned a railway official by the patient’s bedside, she shrugged. “It was the passengers’ negligence. It isn’t the railways’ fault,” she said.
Vignesh, who was within earshot, retorted weakly, “I’ve been travelling by train for the past two years. Even people who travel on footboard regularly take some precautions. They would have probably if they knew the line was being changed and a wall was there.”
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