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KOLKATA: Passengers on a Metro rake refused to get off at the Kalighat station even after being told that a man lay bleeding on the tracks below them. Railway Protection Force personnel had to be summoned to coax the passengers out before the train could be reversed into the tunnel and the man rescued.

The incident occurred at 8.52am on Tursday. A man, in his late twenties, jumped in front of a Dum Dum-bound train; the motorman applied brakes but the train stopped only after three coaches had entered the platform. "The motorman made repeated announcements, urging passengers to move towards the front and get off using the door in his cabin. However, none of the passengers was ready to get off. They said they would get delayed for work," Metro Railway CPRO Indrani Banerjee said. Only after the tracks were clear was power to the third line switched off and the man lifted onto the platform. It was 9.26am when he was put on a waiting ambulance and sent to hospital from where he was released after being given first-aid.

Doctors said the delay in rescuing him could have proved fatal had his injuries been more serious. "Train services resumed at 9.38am after power to the third rail was switched on. It wouldn't have taken so long for the rescue process had the passengers cooperated a bit," Banerjee added.

