Two students were killed on the night of Sunday, May 11, after a train hit them while they were trying to cross the railway track at St Thomas Mount railway station near Chennai city.
According to the police, the victims have been identified as 22-year-old Mohammad Nabul and 21-year-old Sabir Ahmed. Both were final-year Computer Engineering students at a private university, originally from Perambulur district and were staying in a private hostel in Adambakkam.
The duo had spent the evening playing cricket at a ground near the St Thomas Mount railway station. As their game extended into the night, they chose to cross the tracks on foot rather than use the designated foot overbridge to return to their hostel, the police added.
At the time, the Puducherry MEMU Express, which was travelling from Chennai Egmore towards Puducherry, was passing through the station and hit them. The police suspect that the two may not have noticed the oncoming train as they were reportedly talking on the phone.
Both the students died on the spot and their bodies were later sent to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital for postmortem examination. A case has been registered and further investigations are underway.