Man dies as rod pierces his neck after shattering train’s window

Agra: In a freak incident, a passenger on board the Delhi-Kanpur Neelachal Express died after being impaled by an iron rod that flew in through the window and pierced his neck when the train was near Aligarh Junction on Friday morning

Agra: In a freak incident, a passenger on board the Delhi-Kanpur Neelachal Express died after being impaled by an iron rod that flew in through the window and pierced his neck when the train was near Aligarh Junction on Friday morning.

The incident took place around 8.45 am when the train was between Somna and Dambar railway stations of the Prayagraj division (HT PHOTO)

The incident took place around 8.45 am when the train was between Somna and Dambar railway stations of the Prayagraj division. “An iron rod lying on the track broke through the window of the general coach and struck one of the passengers, identified as Harikesh Kumar Dubey, a resident of Sultanpur,” said chief public relations officer (CPRO)-Prayagraj Himanshu Shekhar Upadhayay, in a video statement issued immediately after the incident.

It wasn’t immediately clear how this happened , although it is likely that the rod was lying on the tracks in such a way that only a small part of it was between them, so that when the train’s wheels pressed it, the longer end was propelled at great force through the window, passed through the side of the neck of the man who was sitting by the window, and passed through the partition behind him.

Photographs showed just this. Fortunately, it did not injure any of the passengers on the other side of the partition. Railway officials said they were unsure why a sharp-edged iron rod that is mostly used in digging, was left on the railway tracks unattended. “The incident is being investigated by Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force,” Upadhayay added

The passenger was travelling from Anand Vihar terminal in New Delhi to Lucknow. Others in the coach said the train was moving fast when the rod flew in. “The impact was so high that the rod pierced through the wall and a woman in the back seat had a narrow escape,” they added.

The CPRO added: “ We are conducting an enquiry and are yet to conclude as to how the rod pierced through the window with such a force.”

Aligarh GRP has registered a case under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide) against the incident, the CPRO said as he acknowledged the negligence of the railway technical team in the incident.