Close shave for Bengaluru Express passengers

By NT Correspondent

Bengaluru, Nov.12:

In what could be considered a miraculous escape for hun­dreds of passengers, none of them were injured, seven coaches of the Kannur - Ben­galuru Express derailed be­tween Toppuru and Sivadi on the Salem-Bengaluru section in the early hours of Friday after boulders from an adjacent hillock fell on the running train.

The mishap occurred around 3:30 am waking up the passengers. The seven coaches which went off the tracks, did not overturn en­suring that the passengers remained safe.

An operation was soon launched by South Western Railway officers to remove the boulders. Divisional Railway Manager Shyam Singh rushed to the spot and the tracks were cleared around 7:40 am with the rail­ways operating special bus­es to help stranded passen­gers. Following the mishap, several trains were diverted.