Four passengers – all senior citizens – who were travelling from Agra to Coimbatore on the Kerala Express died allegedly due to extreme heat. According to reports, the passengers travelling on the Kerala Express, which plies from New Delhi to Thiruvananthapuram, complained of uneasiness on Monday evening and by the time the train reached Jhansi, three of them had passed away.
The bodies of three passengers were taken from the train halted at Jhansi railway station and sent to Jhansi Medical college and one of the passengers who was taken in a critical condition to the hospital passed away there. The post mortem will be held on Tuesday to verify the cause of death. It is being investigated whether the deaths were due to heatstroke or something that the passengers had eaten before.
All the passengers were travelling from Agra to Coimbatore and were seated in S-8 and S-9 coaches, which are non-AC. Divisional Railway Manager Neeraj Ambisht told IANS that the bodies would be sent to Coimbatore after the post mortem is completed.
The deceased were a part of a 68-member group that was returning after visiting Varanasi and Agra. "Shortly after we left Agra, the heat became unbearable and some people started complaining of breathing problems and uneasiness. Before we could get some help, they collapsed," said a member of the group.
The deceased have been identified as Pachayya, an 80-year-old man, 67-year-old Balakrishnan, Dhanalakshmi, a 74-year-old woman, and Subbaraiyya, a 71-year-old woman. All four of them were from Tamil Nadu and on their way to Coimbatore. They were lying unconscious in the coach, and a doctor was summoned.
“Three of them had already passed away when in the train and when they were deboarded at Jhansi station, the doctors declared them dead. One of them was still critical and immediately taken to the civil hospital but could unfortunately not survive,” Jhansi railway PRO told TNM. Autopsy of the deceased persons are being done, following which the exact reason for their death will be ascertained.
The deceased were reportedly part of a larger 68-member group that was on the way back from Varanasi and Agra. Some of the deceased's family members have stayed back in Jhansi to take the bodies.
Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh has been seeing high temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius. The highest temperature for Tuesday was 48 degrees Celsius. According to IMD, Jhansi on Monday recorded the highest temperature of 48.1 degrees Celsius, with officials issuing a warning for severe heat wave.
(IANS inputs)