The Hindu : Front Page : Day of festivity ends up in tragedy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 16, 2007
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Front Page

Day of festivity ends up in tragedy

Staff Reporter

Four Delhi boys chasing a kite during Independence Day outing are run over by train

NEW DELHI: Independence Day festivities turned into a tragedy for four boys who strayed on to a railway track while chasing a free-flying kite and were mowed down by a train at Seelampur here on Wednesday.

It all happened around 1-30 p.m. when the boys, ranging in age from 12 years to 16, wandered on to the Gandhi Nagar railway track near Seelampur metro station trying to snatch a stray kite and were run over by New Delhi-Saharanpur Express.

The body of one of the boys was severed into two halves, while the others sustained fatal injuries on the head and died on the spot.

Until late on Wednesday night the police were trying to establish the identity of the boys.

“Going by their appearance, it seems the children belonged to some slum clusters from the adjoining areas. We have sent their photographs and other details to the Gandhi Nagar and Seelampur police stations to help establish their identity,” said a senior Delhi Railway Police officer.

No eyewitnesses

Though there were no eyewitnesses to the tragedy, a local resident who was among the first few to reach the spot said: “I was going along the railway track when I heard a train driver shout that two boys had been run over a few hundred metres behind. I ran back along the track and found four bodies lying scattered on the railway track near the metro station. I immediately called up the Control Room from my mobile phone and informed them about the incident.”

As word about the tragic mishap spread, a large number of local residents gathered around the railway track.

The police shifted the four bodies to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital.

“The bodies have been kept in the mortuary for the time being. Post-mortem will be conducted only after their identities are established,” said a police officer.

In another kite-related tragedy in the Capital on the eve of Independence Day, a 12-year-old boy named Kunal Arora fell to his death from the terrace of a three-storey building in Geeta Colony while flying a kite.

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