NEW DELHI, Sept 28: The Indian Railways have found that the freak accident at the Mathura junction in Uttar Pradesh in which a stationary engine left the track and climbed on the platform on Tuesday night was caused by a railway employee engrossed in a mobile call.
A high-level probe was ordered into the freak accident, in which a woman waiting at the platform was also injured while others managed to escape, checked the available video footage and other evidences.
The moment the accident took place was recorded by a security camera in the train. The video shows a Railways employee entering the engine cabin after all passengers had deboarded the train.
Sachin- who is seen talking to someone on a video call – keeps his bag on the throttle of the engine and gets busy with his phone again. Because of the pressure of the bag the throttle goes into a forward position pushing the train towards the platform but Sachin being busy on the video call did not notice the unusual movement.
The train then starts moving, breaks the dead-end and half of its portion climbs onto the platform, the video shows. Divisional Railway Manager Tej Prakash Agrawal said five people, including Sachin, have been suspended and a high-level probe has been ordered to ascertain the exact cause of the incident.
It’s also being investigated that if Sachin – who went inside the cabin to get the keys – was drunk at that time, officials said. “Sachin was sent for a medical test and his blood sample has been taken to find out the exact level of alcohol consumption,” sources said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
