Coconut from running train hits railway staff in Mumbai

An unidentified commuter threw the bag from a CST-bound train around 12.30pm

A 36-year-old signal maintainer with the Central Railway (CR) suffered serious injuries, as a plastic bag containing a coconut and some floral waste hit him on Mumbai’s Vashi bridge on Monday.

People carry the flowers and fruits used in rituals at home in plastic bags and throw them close to the water while crossing the bridge. (File)

An unidentified commuter threw the bag from a CST-bound train around 12.30pm. Instead of falling into the creek water, the bag hit Santosh Kadam, who was examining a railway signal in that area.

“Kadam collapsed on the spot as soon as the coconut hit him in the thigh. He was taken to the station. We later rushed him to the railway hospital in Byculla and admitted him there,” said Sudarshan Khurana, station of manager of Vashi railway station.

According to Khurana, Kadam would have died had the coconut hit him on his head. “Apart from the signal maintainers, the technicians and other employees of our engineering department keep working along the tracks. People should think twice before throwing such things to the creek from the moving trains,” he said.

People carry the flowers and fruits used in rituals at home in plastic bags and throw them close to the water while crossing the bridge. They do this as it is believed that such wastes should not be mixed with household garbage and should be thrown into flowing water like creeks and rivers.

“The commuter who threw the coconut was in moving train and is yet to be identified,” said a GRP official from Vashi.