Nearly 1,000 passengers of a Gwalior-bound narrow-gauge train had a providential escape on Sunday, when its engine got derailed after hitting a tractor and coaches got stuck over a canal bridge, triggering panic among travellers.
The incident took place around 4.30 pm on Sunday when the train was crossing a bridge over a canal on Chambal river near Sheopur about 600 km from here. The train was heading to Gwalior from Sheopur.
"A major train mishap was averted as no casualty was reported from the mishap site," Sheopur District Police Superintendent (SP) Mahendra Singh Sikarwar said over phone on Monday.
After hitting the tractor at an unmanned crossing, the engine of the train got derailed and its coaches stopped right over the bridge causing panic among passengers, he said. "There were about 1,000 passengers in the train and it was great that none of the passengers, who were stuck in the coaches just above the canal, did not jump into water out of panic," Sikarwar said.
Many of the panic-stricken passengers went on top of the coaches. But, all the passengers were safely rescued from the stranded coaches over the canal by late evening, he said.
A total of seven coaches were stranded over the bridge, which is about 80 feet in length and 15 feet in height.
The canal, which was full of water, was about eight feet deep, sources said.