Train mows down 3 near Vaniyambadi crossing

VELLORE: A party of 11 returning from a temple festival at their native village was besotted with tragedy after three among them, a mother, her son and her nephew, were killed while crossing the tracks.  The tragedy occurred at the Vaniyambadi railway station on Wednesday morning. The group had come for the yearly temple festival at Asnampattu village three days ago.After alighting at the Vaniyambadi bus stand, they rushed to the railway station to catch their train.  As they were apparently late, they decided to save time by crossing the tracks, ignoring the railway over-bridge.  Pappammal (82) was the last person to cross the tracks, even as the Ernakulam-Guwahati Express came closer on that line.The old woman slipped and fell across the tracks.  Her son Srinivasan (45) and her nephew Ramesh (43) along with Krishnappa Naidu, her cousin, rushed to lift her. Sadly, their attempt was in vain.  Srinivasan, Ramesh and Pappamal were fatally hit by the train.  Krishnappa sustained injuries to his torso and legs. He was taken to the Vaniyambadi Government Hospital and admitted to the ICU.  Jolarpet Police arrived and cleared the bodies and sent them for post-mortem. Following this, three cases of death by accident were registered by the Railway Police.