INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said Chandrashekhar Sawant had saved lives after the bridge collapseMUMBAI: Five people were injured this
morning when a section of an bridge caved in at Mumbai's Andheri station
But the tragedy could have been much bigger had it not been for Chandrashekhar Sawant, the driver of the local train that was approaching
the station seconds later.Mr Sawant saw the foot over bridge collapsing from a distance and quickly applied the emergency brakes.The local
train stopped metres just from the collapsed bridge which had ripped off overhead wires left on the tracks."Slabs had started falling as we
were approaching the bridge
By the time I hit the emergency brakes, the slabs had fallen We stopped at a distance of hardly 60 metres," the driver told
TheIndianSubcontinent. Mr Sawant's presence of mind prevented, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said, what could have been a much bigger
tragedy.The minister announced a Rs 5 lakh reward for motorman Chandrashekhar Sawant who had done his job well.The driver, however, was
modest about his achievement
We are trained for this, he told reporters, nonchalantly.Five people were injured when the bridge collapsedThe 40-year-old foot over bridge
At least three jam-packed suburban trains had passed by, seconds before the bridge caved in on the railway tracks, according to news agency
IANS. The collapse blocked train services on one of three main railway lines into the city
Traffic at the bridge was stopped and trains, which are Mumbai's lifeline, were hit."The bridge was 40-years-old and had a few design
flaws," said Railway Minister Piyush Goel after visiting the site of collapse in Andheri, adding that the bridge was last audited in 2017
and the results did not show any abnormalities
He has ordered a probe to be completed within 15 days.As lakhs of commuters remain stranded, many were seen walking across railway tracks to
the nearest station, civic transport body BEST deployed 40 additional bus services between Goregaon and Bandra to clear the rush.With inputs
