By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 23 Jul: Rumour in a running train about it catching fire created panic, leading to a situation which could have resulted in many casualties in district Haridwar, today. The incident happened on a railway bridge over the overflowing Banganga River near Raisi Railway Station.
According to official sources, the Sadbhavana Express, running between Lucknow and Chandigarh, was passing near Raisi Railway Station in district Haridwar. When it was passing over the railway bridge that is built over River Banganga, someone pulled the chain and, as a result, the train came to a halt over the bridge. The sudden application of brakes led to friction and smoke coming from the wheels.
This led to the spread of the rumour that the train had caught fire. A large number of passengers panicked and jumped out of the train. They were seen running on the railway bridge with the Banganga in full flow underneath. Although, the rumour turned out to be untrue, many passengers had already got themselves into a dangerous situation by jumping out of the train and then running on the railway bridge in an attempt to cross it.
According to the officials, there were no casualties. The railway staff reached the site after a while on getting the information and inspected the wheels and the brakes. After the inspection and adjustments to the brakes, the train was allowed to move again after a forced halt of one hour on the bridge.
