Mumbai: In two separate incidents, four engineering students who had arrived in Mumbai from Frankfurt, Germany, were forced to de-board the New Delhi-bound Garib Rath Express at Palghar station on Wednesday, while two foreigners, also returning from Germany on board the Mandovi-Dadar Express were made to disembark at Dadar late on Tuesday night.
In the first incident, the passengers in question had tested negative for coronavirus at the airport but their hands were stamped 'home quarantine', the sight of which alarmed other passengers, who then pulled the safety chain on the train and it was forced to make an unscheduled halt at Palghar.
In the second case, the two foreigners were offloaded at Dadar after their fellow passengers got suspicious. They were then sent to the Seven Hills Hospital to be quarantined. The duo was returning from Karmali in Goa to Mumbai, having arrived in India on March 12.
The students returning from Germany were bound for Surat, Vadodara and Bhavnagar. They had landed at the Mumbai international airport around 4am on Wednesday, where they were screened and found negative for coronavirus.
As per procedure, they were allowed to go after being advised 14 days’ home quarantine, as mentioned in their hand stamps.
As directed by the airport authorities, they were using hand sanitisers and have also been wearing masks all the time.
“The four passengers were de-boarded from coach numbers G4 and G5 of 12216 Garibrath at Palghar station when travel ticket examiner and co-passengers raised an alarm after seeing their stamps,” said a Western Railway (WR) spokesperson.
The four had been advised 14 days of home quarantine as a precautionary measure.
“After being de-boarded, they were taken to a government hospital in Palghar where doctors and local authorities checked them and confirmed they did not have any symptoms of COVID-19. Later, they were allowed to go ahead by road,” the WR spokesperson added.
