Thousands of tons of diesel spilled into a drain after two carriages of a goods train derailed near Ratlam railway station in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday night. The incident caused a frenzy among locals who rushed to the site with containers to collect the fuel.
The derailed train, carrying diesel from Rajkot, Gujarat, to Bakaniya, near Bhopal, was traveling on the Delhi-Mumbai railway route. When news of the derailment spread on Friday morning, people flocked to the area with utensils, cans, and large containers to fill them with the spilled diesel. The video of the looting has gone viral on social media.
Railway officials quickly responded to the incident, separating the derailed carriages from the rest of the train and transporting them to the Mangrol IOC terminal. However, the locals' desire to take advantage of the spilled fuel proved too strong to resist.
Due to the derailment, train services were halted at stations around Ratlam, and several trains, including the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express, were diverted to other routes. The movement of trains was restored on a track in the Ratlam division on Friday after 12 hours.
The derailment occurred near a railway yard on the Delhi-Mumbai route at 10 pm on Thursday. Three wagons of the goods train, carrying petroleum products, jumped off the track near E Cabin, about one kilometer from Ratlam railway station.