Mumbai, Jul 7 (PTI) An on-duty senior engineer and a trackman died after being hit by a speeding suburban train between Khar and Bandra stations here, Western Railway (WR) officials said on Tuesday.

The incident took place just past midnight on Monday, they said.

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The officials said 48-year-old senior section engineer (P-way) Raj Kumar Sharma and trackman Nagesh Sawant (40) were run over by a suburban train on slow track when they were moving to attend a necessary track work at about 12.10 am.

According to a statement recorded by the motorman, the local train was diverted on slow line from fast track, the WR officials said.

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It was raining heavily at the time of the incident and the train was speeding at 70-80 kmph when it crossed Khar station, the motorman (driver) said in his statement, according to the officials.

"When he (motorman) saw two plainclothes men walking on slow track, he blew horn and applied emergency brakes. In haste, they sat down on the tracks and were hit by the train," they said.

Sharma and Sawant suffered head injuries with open skull fractures and were taken to nearby Bhabha Hospital at about 1 am, but were declared brought dead by the attending doctor, the officials said.

"This unfortunate incident will be dealt as run over on-duty and suitable compensation and other benefits will be provided to their families as per extant law," said a WR spokesperson.

The Western and Central Railways are running a select number of suburban trains in Mumbai for staffers on essential services duty and a section of government employees during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)