In a shocking incident, an engineering student who was trying to board a running train slipped and fell onto the tracks, and was crushed to death under the wheels. K Venkatadri Reddy, a 22-year-old first year engineering student at Bapatla in Guntur, was trying to get into the running train at the Chirala Railway Station in Prakasam district.
Venkatadri belongs to Samanthapudi of Darshi in Prakasam district, and was going to attend an education fest in Chennai. He boarded the Chennai Central-Hyderabad Express in Bapatla on Friday night.
At Chirala station however, he got down for a break and tried to re-board the running train.
A CCTV video of the incident shows two people running against the direction in which the train was moving. For a few seconds, neither of them can be seen, and the train picks up speed. The two men reappear on the screen later, now chasing the train.
One of the men – Venkatadri – grabs hold of a handle near a door and tries to get in, but he slips and falls, with just his torso sticking out from under the train. The other man quickly tries to help him and pull him out, but the young man loses his grip, and falls on the track.
According to authorities, the victim and his friend got down from one of the front coaches, and were running to get into the last coach.
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A case has been registered under CrPC section 174 by the Chirala Government Railway Police.
Speaking to TNM, Railway Protection Force Inspector Ravishanker Singh said, "A close observation of the CCTV footage suggests that the boy tried to hold the train door handle, but slipped. His hand bag seems to have hooked on to some part of the speeding train coach when he fell down. He then went under and died.”
“His friend tried to save him, but couldn’t,” he added.
The officer cautions people against trying to board running trains, and also asks everyone to be alert. “In many such cases, people stand at the door and use mobile phones. Sometimes, they even wait for the train to start moving before they board,” he said.
According to the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) data released by the National Crime Records Bureau for 2015, there was a total of 29,419 railway accidents in that year – and 26,066 people died in these incidents. ‘Fall from trains/collision with people at track’ accounted for 72.5% of these accidents.
Note: The CCTV visuals are disturbing and TNM has chosen not to play them.