Jalgaon Train Accident: 4 Nepalese Among 13 Killed; CM Fadnavis Reacts, Ex-Gratia Announced

The death toll in the Mumbai-bound Pushpak Expressꦅ accident at Maharashtra's Jalgaon on Thursday moun♏ted to 13. At least four of them hailed from Nepal including a minor boy and two women, authorities said. 15 others were injured in the accident.

“Of the 13, we have identified eight bodies so far, including two from their Aadhaar cards,” Special Inspector General of Police Dattatraya Karale told PTI while district information officer Yuvraj Patil con🅺firmed that the eight identified🍨 deceased included four from Nepal.

As per the list provided by authorities, the four Nepalese victims have been identified as Kamala Navin Bhandari (43) (who lived at Colaba in Mu𝕴mbai), Javakala Bhate (60) (who resided at Bhiwandi in Thane), Lachchiram Khataru Pasi (40) and Imtiyaz Ali (11).

Out of the injured persons, 10 were currently undergoing treatment - nine at the Pachora civil hospital and one at a medical facility in Jalgaon city. Th💯e others who suffered minor injuries were discharged, Patil said.

About the accident

A false fire alarm in a Mumbai-bound express train turned out to be fatal for 13 ꧒people as several panicking passengers hastily jumped out of the train fearing a fire and got run over by another oncoming Karnataka Express headin﷽g from Bengaluru to Delhi.

Central Railway officials told PTI that as many as 15 other passengers were injured in the accident, which took place between Maheji and Pard🌳hade stations near Pachora town in North Maharashtra's Jalgaon district, when Pushpak Express halted after someone pulled the chain around 4.45 pm.

CM Fadnavis reacts, ex-gratia announced

In his reaction to the tragic incident that killed 13 people, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis in 😼a video message from Davos in Switzerland said, "Some passengers in the train mistakenly assumed that smoke is coming out of the train and they jumped. Unfortunately, they were run over by another train."

While the CM announced💙 financial assistance of rupees 5 lakhs each to the next of kin of the passengers who died in the tragedy, the state Railway Board separately announced an ex-gratia of rupees 1.5 lakhs each to the kin of the deceased a𝔉nd rupees 50,000 for those who sustained grievous injuries, and Rs 5,000 for those with simple injuries.

Moreover, 🧸a team of the Central Railway personnel on Wednesday night visited the hospitals and distributed a total ex-gratia of Rs 2.70 lakh to nine of the injured passengers, a𒉰n official said.