Four engineering students boozing on railway track fatally run over by speeding train in Coimbatore
Coimbatore: What started as fun ended up in tragedy for four engineering students who were killed by an express train near Coimbatore in the intervening night of Wednesday-Thursday.
The police said the four decided to drink on the railway track near Irugur on the outskirts of Coimbatore. “They went there around 10 pm and got sloshed after some time. They couldn’t even wake up when the Chennai-Alleppey train reached the spot. All four got crushed under its wheels. As it was dark, the pilot couldn’t spot them,” said a police officer.
The deceased have been identified as Siddiq Raja, a final-year civil engineering student and a native of Kodaikanal; Rajasekar, a third-year student of mechanical engineering and a native of Nellakottai; Gowtham and Karupusami who left the college last year and had been to the city to appear for their arrear exams. All of them belonged to a private college in the city.
Siddiq and Rajasekar had rented a house in Irugur, while the other two boys were temporarily staying with them.
The police suspect the incident took place in the early hours of Thursday. “There were no passersby at that hour who could have alerted the boys about the incoming train or rescued them,” added the officer.
All the bodies have been moved to the government hospital in Coimbatore. The Podanur police have registered a case.
