Maharashtra: RPF jawan dies after train runs over him at Kasara railway station

Head constable Dileep Sonwane was on duty at Kasara station in Maharashtra, when the LTT- Kanpur Express arrived at 6.49 am and some passengers called him for help

A jawan of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) died after being run over by a train at Kasara railway station in Maharashtra's Thane district in the early hours of Sunday, an official said, reported the PTI.

Head constable Dileep Sonwane (53) was on duty at Kasara station, when the LTT- Kanpur Express arrived at 6.49 am and some passengers called him for help, he said, according to the PTI.

Sonawane helped a passenger and was alighting the train, which started moving. He lost his balance and fell in the gap between the platform and the train, the official told the PTI.

The train ran over the jawan and he died on the spot, he said.

Sonawane was a resident of Kalyan and is survived by his wife and two children, the official said, adding that a case of accidental death has been registered.

Meanwhile, eighteen patients died in the last 24 hours at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Maharashtra's Kalwa in Thane, civic commissioner Abhijit Bangar said on Sunday, reported the PTI.

These comprise 10 women and eight men, of which six are from Thane city, four from Kalyan, three from Sahapur, one each from Bhiwandi, Ulhasnagar and Govandi (in Mumbai), one patient is from some other place and and one is unidentified, he said, according to the PTI.

Twelve of the deceased were above the age of 50, Bangar added, as per the PTI.

Earlier, state health minister Tanaji Sawant and local Deputy Commissioner of Police Ganesh Gawde had put the number of deaths at 17.

Addressing a news conference, Bangar said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had taken feedback about the situation and had ordered the setting up of an independent probe committee that will be headed by the commissioner of health services and will include collector, civic chief, director of health services, interventionist at state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai and civic surgeon, the news agency reported on Sunday.

It will carry out probe into the clinical aspect of the deaths, he added.

These patients had complications of kidney stone, chronic paralysis, ulcer, pneumonia, kerosene poisoning, septicemia etc, he said.

(with PTI inputs)

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