At least four people travelling via the Khajuraho-Udaipur Intercity Express train (19665) were killed on Sunday evening at Madhya Pradesh's Morena after rumours of a fire sparked panic inside the train.
The bodies of three women and a child—run over by a train on the adjacent track—have been recovered so far, with rescue operations underway to find others, if any, who might have been killed.
While two women and the child were from Uttar Pradesh, one woman was from Rajasthan, Morena Collector Lokesh Kumar Jangid told PTI.
Eyewitnesses have said that the rumour began while some passengers had been charging their phones on the train.
Confusion arose, and rapidly turned into panic when someone allegedly shouted that the train was on fire. This led to some pulling the chain, which allegedly stopped the train near the Hetampur Railway Station.
Many then rushed off the train amid the reported stampede-like situation that had begun onboard, despite officials later saying that there had been no fire at all.
However, when some of them were crossing the tracks, they were run over by the approaching Patalkot Express (20424), which had been travelling from Firozpur in Punjab to Madhya Pradesh's Seoni.
It was after a short while after they jumped down from their train that passengers inside had shouted to them, asking them to get off the tracks. However, those on the tracks had little time to react, and were thus hit by the incoming Patalkot Express.
Railway officials, personnel of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP) arrived at the scene upon receiving information about the accident.
After rescue operations were completed, both trains departed for their destinations. The railway tracks were also cleared soon after.
