Three injured as boulders crash on Hubli Express

Mangalore Today News Network

Mumbai, Aug 21, 2017 : Three passengers were injured when boulders crashed on the Hubli Express at the Khandala Ghats between Pune and Mumbai, in the wee hours of Monday.

 

The incident took place around 5.15 AM between the Monkey Hill and Thakurwadi section of the Khandala Ghat, which is about 105 kms away from Mumbai – on the Central Railway route.

This is the third such incident of boulders coming down because of loosening of soil near the Monkey Hill station. This ghats stretch h considered one of the challenging ghats on Indian Railways.

The boulder fell in one of the sleeper coaches (S-6 coach) of the 17317 Hubli-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express of the , which completely damaged the roof and came crashing down.

After the incident, the train was taken to Karjat where the boulder was removed. The injured passengers were identified as Shivprasad Mallaappa Hiremath (27), a resident of Bhandup in Mumbai and Hussan Sab Beloki (59) and Mohammed Asif (25), both residents of Hubbali district of Karnataka.

The injured were initially taken to the Kalyan Railway Hospital and then one of them was shifted to the Fortis Hospital. “Two of them received minor injuries on hand and knee while we have shifted one of them to a private hospital. His condition is stable and normal,” a Central Railway official said.

The Pune-Mumbai route was affected briefly, however, now it is back to normal. Top officials of the Central Railway including general manager DK Sharma rushed to the spot and carried out an inspection of the site.

In fact, since the weekend, the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik belt has been receiving heavy rainfall and this could probably be one of the reasons of the boulders coming down because of the mudslide.



courtesy:DHNS