12 killed in India after train passengers fleeing fire jump onto tracks and are hit by another train

At least 12 train passengers died on Wednesday after being hit by another train on an adjacent track in western India after they jumped out of their carriages in panic to escape a rumored fire, the Press Trust of India reported.

At least six other people were injured and taken to nearby hospitals, the news agency quoted police officer Dattatraya Karale as saying.

The accident happened in the state of Maharashtra, near the Pardhade railway station, 255 miles southwest of Mumbai, India’s financial capital.

PTI said the victims jumped out of the Pushpak Express train which had stopped after some passengers pulled the emergency chain. Those who disembarked were hit by another express train on the adjacent railway line, railway spokesperson Swapnil Nil was quoted as saying by PTI.

“Our preliminary information is that there was a spark inside one of the coaches of the Pushpak Express either due to ‘hot axle’ or ‘brake sticking’ (jamming) and some passengers panicked. They pulled the chain and some of them jumped down on tracks, at the same time, Karnataka Express was passing on the adjacent track,” a senior railway official told PTI.

Despite the government’s efforts to improve railway safety, hundreds of accidents they occur every year Indian Railwayswhich is the largest train network under one management in the world.

In 2023, two passenger trains collided after derailing in eastern India, killing more than 280 people and injuring hundreds in one of the the deadliest train accidents in decades.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focused on modernizing India’s colonial-era British railway network, which has become the most populous country in the world with 1.42 billion.