Train accident: Body of missing sanitary worker found

Palakkad (Kerala), Nov 3 (PTI) A sanitary worker, who went missing after a train accident near Shoranur Railway Station, was found dead on Sunday, police said.

According to the Railways, three persons died and one was missing after the Thiruvananthapuram-bound Kerala Express hit the workers engaged in collecting garbage from the railway track by 3.05 pm on Saturday.

The body of Lakshmanan, a native of Tamil Nadu, was found during an intense search mission carried out jointly by scooba divers and fire force personnel, police said.

Though the search began on Sunday morning, they managed to fish out the body from the Bharathapuzha River only late evening, Shoranur police added.

With this, the total number of deaths rose to four.

Four sanitary workers, including two women from Tamil Nadu, were killed after being hit by the Thiruvananthapuram-bound Kerala Express near Shoranur Railway Station on Saturday evening.

The train had struck the workers around 3.05 pm while they were clearing garbage from the railway track near Shoranur bridge, located a few kilometers from the railway station.

In the wake of the incident, the Southern Railways has terminated the services of the contractor who was awarded the work to clean railway tracks.

"The action for terminating the contract has been initiated and a criminal case is also being registered against the contractor for failing to ensure the safety of the workers...," said a release issued by Railways. PTI LGK KH