Four workers have been killed after an express train hit them near Shoranur in Palakkad district in Kerala on Monday, Shornur police said.
The incident unfolded after four sanitary workers, including two women from Tamil Nadu, were killed after being hit by the Thiruvananthapuram-bound Kerala Express near Shoranur Railway Station, a report in news agency PTI said.
The train 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.
The workers, contracted by the Railways for sanitation duties, were thrown from the track due to the collision's impact.
While the authorities have retrieved three bodies from the area, efforts are being made to locate the fourth, which is suspected to have fallen into the Bharathapuzha River, according to the police.
The workers may not have noticed the approaching train, which resulted in the accident, but further investigations are underway, said an officer with Shoranur Railway Police.
In a similar incident, two children died after being hit by a train while crossing the railway tracks near the Narayanpur Bazaar railway station in the Adalhat area of Mirzapur on Saturday evening.
Additional Superintendent of Police O P Singh said, "The deceased have been identified as Satyam (8) and Ram Ashish (10) both residents of Baraipur in the Adalhat area."
Upon receiving information about the incident, senior police officials reached the spot immediately and took the bodies into their custody. "Legal procedures have been initiated to send the bodies for post-mortem," the ASP added.