Panic among passengers triggered by sparks on train wheels

Siliguri, June 04: Sparks were seen at the wheels of a train near Siliguri in north Bengal on Friday morning, triggering panic among the passengers, officials said.

The incident happened when the Sealdah-Alipurduar special train was near Atal Tea Estate in Naxalbari, they said.

The guard of the train saw the sparks and smoke at the wheels of an AC compartment and alerted the driver, they said.

The driver informed the Bagdogra station and was told to get the train there at a slow speed, officials said.

In the meanwhile, the panic-stricken passengers started scrambling to get out of the compartment.

The emergency services, including fire engines and the RPF, were on standby at the Bagdogra station and as soon as the train reached, they started safety operations, officials said.

"It was a minor incident and no disruption was caused to services. The sparks were seen in the brakeshoe," a spokesperson of the Northeast Frontier Railway said.

After all the safety examinations, which went on for around an hour, the train was allowed to continue its onward journey to Alipurduar.