Three people were killed and four others injured after falling from the footboard of a suburban train in Chennai. The incident took place at around 9am on Thursday between Palavanthangal and St Thomas Mount railway station.

Dr P Vijayakumar, Superintendent of Railway Police Force said, “Seven people fell while traveling on the footboard of the suburban train. Three of those who fell have died in the incident.”

Those injured have been rushed to the Pallavaram General Hospital.

Vijaykumar said that an inquiry is underway to determine what happened.

Railway officials say suburban train services were affected for about 10 minutes following the incident. Services, have, however since resumed. 

The Railway Police Force has in the past launched drives to crackdown footboard travel. Thirteen people were killed and 40 injured in footboard travel in 2015-16, according to report by Times of India.

Quoting an RPF officer, the report notes that a number of offenders are students as a number of educational institutions are located along the train route.