Three found dead on railway track after train fire incident in Kerala's Kozhikode
Kozhikode (PTI): Three persons, including a one-year-old child and a woman, were found dead on the tracks near the Elathur railway station here, hours after a man allegedly set afire a co-passenger and injured eight others on board an express train.
A senior police official from the district told PTI that the bodies of a woman, a child and a man were recovered from the tracks late Sunday night.
The three were missing from the train after the fire incident on Sunday, he added.
At around 9.45 pm, when the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train reached the Korapuzha railway bridge here after crossing Kozhikode city, an unidentified man poured an inflammable liquid on a co-passenger and set him on a fire resulting in burn injuries to at least eight persons, police said.
The man escaped soon after the incident, while the injured were shifted to hospitals after passengers pulled the emergency chain.
When the train reached Kannur, a few passengers complained that a woman and a child were missing after the incident.
"A man, who was injured, kept looking for a woman and a child. We found footwear and a mobile phone of that woman," a passenger told the media at Kannur.
Soon after the news of the missing persons came out, the city police inspected the tracks and found three bodies, including the woman and the child and a mid-aged man.
Police suspect they fell off the train or attempted to deboard after seeing the fire.
"The woman and the child who went missing were found dead on the tracks. There is one unidentified body of a male. We have found CCTV visuals of the suspect. Investigation is on," a senior police official of the district said.
Sources said the woman was the child's aunt.
A total of nine persons have been admitted to various hospitals, including the Kozhikode Medical College, for treatment Further details are awaited.
Kozhikode, Kerala | Forensic experts reached the spot where the bodies of three people including that of a child were found near a railway track. pic.twitter.com/154A3r3EFU
— ANI (@ANI) April 3, 2023
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MP: 40 years after Bhopal gas disaster, toxic waste leaves Union Carbide factory for disposal
Bhopal, Jan 1: Forty years after the Bhopal gas tragedy, the shifting of some 377 tons of hazardous waste began from the defunct Union Carbide factory on Wednesday night for its disposal, an official said.
The toxic waste is being shifted in 12 sealed container trucks to the Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district, 250 km away from Bhopal.
"12 container trucks carrying the waste set off on a non-stop journey around 9 pm. A green corridor has been created for the vehicles which are expected to reach Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district in seven hours," said Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department Director Swatantra Kumar Singh.
He said around 100 people worked in 30-minute shifts since Sunday to pack and load the waste in trucks.
"They underwent health check-ups and were given rest every 30 minutes," he added.
Highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killing at least 5,479 people and leaving thousands with serious and long-lasting health issues. It is considered to be among the worst industrial disasters in the world.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court on December 3 rebuked authorities for not clearing the Union Carbide site in Bhopal despite directions from even the Supreme Court and set a four-week deadline to shift the waste, observing that even 40 years after the gas tragedy, authorities were in a "state of inertia".
The high court bench had warned the government of contempt proceedings if its directive was not followed.
"If everything is found to be fine, the waste will be incinerated within three months. Otherwise, it might take up to nine months," Singh told PTI on Wednesday morning.
Initially, some of the waste will be burnt at the waste disposal unit in Pithampur and the residue (ash) will be examined to find whether any harmful elements are left, Singh said.
The smoke from the incinerator will pass through special four-layer filters so that the surrounding air is not polluted, he added.
Once it is confirmed that no traces of toxic elements are left, the ash will be covered by a two-layer membrane and buried to ensure it does not come in contact with soil and water in any way.
A team of experts under the supervision of officials of the Central Pollution Control Board and State Pollution Control Board will carry out the process, Singh said.
Some local activists have claimed that 10 tons of Union Carbide waste was incinerated on a trial basis in Pithampur in 2015, after which the soil, underground water and water sources in surrounding villages became polluted.
But Singh rejected the claim, stating that the decision to dispose of the waste at Pithampur was taken only after the report of the 2015 test and all the objections were examined.
There would be no reason to worry, he said.
A large number of people had on Sunday taken out a protest march in Pithampur to oppose the disposal of Union Carbide waste in the city which has a population of about 1.75 lakh.
12 trucks carrying 337 tonnes of toxic waste from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, stored for 40 years, left at 9:05 p.m. for Pithampur near Indore. The waste is expected to arrive early on January 2nd, following a 250-km green corridor with heavy security.
— The Hindu (@the_hindu) January 1, 2025
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