Footboard travel, fall from train kill two teens in city

CHENNAI: Two 13-year-old boys, one of them travelling on the footboard of an MTC bus, were killed in separate accidents in Avadi and Flower Bazaar in the last two days.
While Aswin Nakeeran, who was travelling to school aboard bus on route 565 (Pattabhiram-Sriperumbudur) died after he slipped and came under its wheels near CTH Road in Avadi on Friday morning, Dhanush Baskaran tried to get off a train slowing down at Fort station on Saturday afternoon and was crushed to death.
Police said Ashwin, a Class 8 student of a private school in Avadi, left his house in Pattabhiram and boarded a bus.
He remained on the footboard at the entrance as the bus was crowded, an officer said based on witness accounts. As the bus reached Avadi, he lost his grip and fell down. He came under the rear wheels of the vehicle.
The driver stopped the bus and some of the passengers rushed Ashwin to a private hospital where he was wheeled into the ICU. He died later in the night. The Poonamallee traffic police registered a case and are investigating.
On Saturday afternoon, Dhanush, a Class 9 student of Government High School on Pallavan Salai, was trying to get off a suburban train coming to a halt at Fort station when the accident took place.
He fell in the gap between the train and the platform and was crushed to death.
A team of the government railway police rushed to the spot and moved the body to the Stanley Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.
R Madhu, a witness, said Dhanush of Indira Nagar off Pallavan Salai had gone to the beach to play with friends. He was returning home when he tried to jump off the train at Fort station. “Since he was very popular in the locality, word spread like wildfire and neighbours rushed to the railway station and later to the hospital. He was advised by other passengers to wait until the train stopped but he did not heed their advice,” said Madhu.