LUCKNOW: For nine-year-old Rizwan, the train journey home ended in a tragedy that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Within moments, the young boy lost his mother and four-year-old brother after panic triggered by a rumour forced passengers off a halted train near Morena in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday evening.Among the four people killed after being struck by the speeding Patalkot Express (20424), three were from Agra and one from Rajasthan’s Bikaner district. All the victims had been travelling aboard the Udaipur Express (19665) when rumours of a fire spread through a general coach, prompting frightened passengers to jump off the train.The dead included Ruksana alias Afreen (35) and her younger son Asad (4), residents of the Sultanganj Ki Pulia area of Agra. The mother and son were returning from Harpalpur in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district, where Ruksana had been visiting her family. They were travelling with her husband Nadeem and elder son Rizwan.According to railway officials, the Udaipur Express came to an unscheduled halt around 4.15 pm near Hetampur railway station after someone pulled the alarm chain in a general coach. Soon after the train stopped, rumours began circulating among passengers that a fire had broken out.Speaking to TOI, a devastated Nadeem recalled the chaos that unfolded in minutes.“Someone had pulled the alarm chain in the first general coach near the locomotive. As soon as the train stopped, rumours of a fire spread. I did not see any smoke or flames, but passengers panicked and it became almost like a stampede,” he said.Nadeem said his elder son Rizwan was seated on the upper berth when the panic began. “I told him to stay where he was while I helped my wife and younger son get down. I left them in an open space beside the train, away from the crowd and the track. When I returned with Rizwan, I found my wife and son lying dead,” he said, struggling to contain his grief.A daily-wage labourer from Agra, Nadeem now faces the unimaginable task of raising Rizwan alone after losing his wife and younger child in a matter of moments.The other victims were identified as Sakuntala (60), a resident of Agra’s Runkata area, and Birma Devi (60) from Gasora village in Bikaner district. Efforts to contact their families were unsuccessful as their phones remained switched off.In a statement, the Jhansi division of the North Central Railway said some passengers got off the halted train and moved towards the adjacent track. Around the same time, the Patalkot Express was passing through the section. Several passengers were struck while attempting to cross or move near the track.The bodies were sent to a local government hospital for post-mortem examination. Following the incident, the Udaipur Express departed at 5.13 pm, while the Patalkot Express resumed its journey at 5.27 pm.Though two ambulances had arrived at the spot by 5.30 pm, the body parts of the deceased victims were removed by 7 pm, after which 16 other trains who were halted on the route were operationalized. The affected trains were 12049, 11077, 12137, 12279, 12190, 12191, 12438, 12716, 16032, 20658, 22222, 12406, 12780, 12616, 18478 and 12752.
