KALLAKURICHI/ CUDDALORE: An eight-month
pregnant woman
, who accidentally fell from a
speeding express train
near
Ulundurpet
, Kallakurichi district, sustained severe injuries and died near the railway track on Thursday night. The deceased was identified as S Kasthuri, 22, a nursing graduate from Chennai, wife of Suresh Kumar from Sankarankoil in Tenkasi district.
Relatives blamed the emergency chain that failed to work for the delay in rescuing and providing medical treatment to the woman and her subsequent death.
Railway police while quoting her relatives said Kasthuri along with her husband and relatives left Chennai for Sankarankoil in Kollam Express on Thursday. The pregnant woman’s baby shower ceremony was scheduled on Sunday at Sankarankoil. When the speeding
express train
crossed Ulundurpet railway station, Kasthuri complained of nausea and vomiting. She was assisted by one of her relatives to the door when she lost control and fell from the speeding train.
Her relatives attempted to stop the train by pulling the emergency chain. They said the emergency chain in the compartment did not work, and they could not stop the train immediately. They rushed to the next compartment and pulled the emergency chain to stop the train. By then the train travelled almost 10km from where the pregnant woman fell. They got down and tried to trace Kasthuri. Their 20-minute search turned futile, and the train departed and reached Vridhachalam railway station.
Her relatives went to Vridhachalam railway station and lodged a complaint with the railway police. A police team found her body along the tracks about 1km from Ulundurpet railway station after a three-hour search. Her relatives said Kasthuri could have been saved if the emergency chain in the compartment had worked and they could have rescued the injured woman and rushed her for immediate medical treatment. They pointed out that it took almost three hours to locate her after she fell from the train.
Meanwhile, the district administration has ordered an inquiry by the RDO as the woman died within eight months of marriage to rule out any foul play in the tragic death of the woman.
