Hyderabad: This can only be described as a freak mishap which was destined to happen.
A 60-year-old male passenger travelling from Kerala to Goa died of injuries caused by an upper berth seat falling on him, reported PTI.
The victim, identified by police as Ali Khan CK, was travelling with a friend in a sleeper coach of train number 12645 — Ernakulam-Hazrat Nizamuddin Millennium Superfast Express, Government Railway Police (GRP) said on Wednesday.
The accident took place on June 16 due to improper chaining of the sleeper berth when the train was passing through Telangana’s Warangal.
Ali Khan suffered neck injuries and was taken to a hospital in Ramagundam. He was then shifted to a hospital in Hyderabad, where he died while undergoing treatment.
Kerala Congress blamed Indian Railways under PM Narendra Modi and minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for the bizarre tragedy.
Railways clarified that the claim of ‘berth crashing’ on the passenger is misleading.
The seat, checked at Nizamuddin station along with all others, was found to be fine, a Railway spokesperson wrote in a post on X to counter the allegations.
“The concerned passenger was travelling on seat No. 57 (lower berth) of S-6 coach. The upper berth seat fell down due to improper placement of chain of the upper berth… It is clarified that the seat was not in damaged condition, neither it fell down nor crashed as claimed by the news article… Hence the post of crashing seat is miseading,” Railways said.
Clarification on news by onmanorama regarding train number 12645. https://t.co/ODyAmNDjLa pic.twitter.com/40CoC13vp8
— Spokesperson Railways (@SpokespersonIR) June 26, 2024
A case has been registered in relation to the accident.
