Mahalaxmi Express: 2 choppers, 6 boats, 8 hrs rescue operation save 1,050 stranded passengers

As many as 1,050 passengers stranded on board Mahalaxmi Express were evacuated off the train on Saturday after an eight-hour-long rescue operation. The Mahalaxmi Express was stranded between Vangani in Thane district and Badlapur due to flooding on tracks following heavy rains.

The Central Railways, in a tweet, said that all the stranded passengers were rescued by 3 pm on Saturday. The Mahalaxmi Express had left Mumbai for Kolhapur on Friday night, but could not travel beyond Vangani, where it reached at around 3 am on Saturday.

As the train stuck near Vangani, panicky, starving and thirsty passengers on the Kolhapur-bound train were seen making appeals for help on mobile videos and social media. In the videos, the passengers said that they had no drinking water or food for nearly 15 hours.

Soon after, two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters and six boats of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were sent to rescue the stranded passengers of the Mahalaxmi Express.