Tenkasi (Tamil Nadu): An elderly couple's courage helped in averting derailment of a train, travelling between Tirunelveli towards Palakkad, as they alerted the loco pilot by flashing a torchlight on Sunday midnight in Tamil Nadu's Tenkasi. Finally, they caught the attention of the driver, who applied brakes and halted the empty rake.
Earlier, a truck carrying plywood from Kerala to Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi, lost control near the S Velavu area on the inter-state border and overturned before falling onto the adjoining railway track.
Moments after the accident, a train from Tirunelveli to Palakkad in Kerala was travelling on the same track. Shanmugaiah and his wife Kurunthammal, residents of Puliyarai area were woken up from their sleep by the sound of the train. Without a second thought, they rushed to the scene. Flashing a torchlight, they ran on the railway track towards the approaching train. The train halted some metres away.
Meanwhile, the truck was completely damaged due to the accident. The driver, identified as Manikandan (34), a resident of Mukkudal area, died on the spot. The helper had jumped off the lorry and survived the accident. Later, he went to the nearby Puliyarai check post and informed the Tenkasi Railway police about the incident. Later, police rushed to the spot and sent the body to Tenkasi Government Hospital for post-mortem.
The damaged truck was removed from the track with the help of a crane while efforts were initiated to repair the track. Two trains, one from Sengottai to Palakkad and another from Chennai to Kollam, were halted for sometime while the repair work was underway.
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