TEHRAN, January 22 (MNA) – At least 11 people died in a rail accident in India’s western Maharashtra state on Wednesday when they disembarked from their train, fearing a fire, only to be hit by another train passing on the adjacent track.Railway officials told local media that someone had pulled the train’s alarm chain, causing it to come to a halt, after which several passengers de-boarded onto the adjacent tracks and were mowed down by another passing train, Al Arabiya News reported.

“As per the information, 11 people have died in the accident and 5 others are injured,” Praveen Gedam, a senior railway official in Nashik region, told ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said ambulances had been dispatched to the spot - located about 400 kilometers (250 miles) away from India’s financial capital Mumbai - and arrangements were being made to treat the injured.

“Emergency equipment like glass cutters, floodlights etc.

have also been kept ready,” he said on messaging platform X Indian railways is the fourth largest train network in the world and is undergoing a $30 billion upgrade, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to boost connectivity.

Rail accidents in the last two years, including a collision in 2023 that killed at least 288 people, have tarnished its image, however.

MA/PR