india

Updated: Apr 08, 2019 08:01 IST

At least 36 passengers, including women and children, fell ill on the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express (22812), allegedly from food poisoning, on Sunday morning. The first complaints came when the train was moving towards the Bokaro station, after crossing the Gaya station before daybreak. When the train reached Bokaro a few hours later, a medical team was ready to treat the passengers.

Adra rail division manager (DRM) SK Srivastava said that at least 36 passengers of four coaches (B1, B3, B5, and B8) were treated for food poisoning during the journey. “Their condition was stable and they are out of danger. Since the affected passengers recovered with the treatment of railway doctors, they didn’t want to be admitted at the hospitals in Bokaro and [near] the Tatanagar railway station in Jamshedpur [along the same route],” he said.

Railway officials said that passengers began complaining of uneasiness and tendency of vomiting / loose motion as the train left the Gaya station around 4am. Bokaro railway station manager LGK Singh said that a medical team under senior doctor Dr GS Kujur boarded the coaches that had the affected passengers as the train reached Bokaro station at 8.50am. All the passengers were dehydrated by that time. Since Rajdhani Express had only a two-minute halt at the Bokaro station, the station manager offered to take passengers to the hospital, but no one got off the train.

“First, we received information that 17 passengers of coach B8 had fallen ill. So a special medical team boarded that coach. But when the train left the Bokaro station, passengers from other coaches also began to complain of diarrhoea symptoms,” said Singh. The medical team that had remained on-board continued treatment.

The passengers told the medical team that after eating the dinner supplied by the railways, they went to sleep. But sometime after midnight, they began feeling uneasy, and this was soon followed by vomiting and loose motion. “We became panicky, seeing other passengers of the coach suffering from the same problems, and raised an alarm,” said a passengers from coach B8, speaking to a Bokaro doctor.

DRM Srivastava said, “After getting information from the Dhanbad rail division about the complaints of the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express passengers, I immediately directed the Bokaro railway station manager to prepare a medical team and keep an ambulance there for any emergency. Since the affected passengers were of Bhubaneswar, they did not want to break the journey.” He added, “The medical team from Bokaro and Tatanagar railway station accompanied the affected passengers till Kharagpur railway station and then returned after ensuring they got proper treatment.”

The DRM said that it looked like a case of food poisoning. Since supply of food packets on the train comes under IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, a subsidiary of the Indian Railways), he has informed the Railway Board about the complaints of the passengers so that the incident may be probed.