Woman who had labour pains in stalled train safe

Thane (Maharashtra), July 27 (IANS) A nine-month pregnant woman who suddenly went into labour pains in the stranded Mahalaxmi Express train, stuck in flood waters at Vangani outside Mumbai for nearly 18 hours, was rescued safely on Saturday, officials said.

Earlier on Saturday, her panicky relatives sent out urgent appeals from the D1 bogey seeking help to rush her to a hospital to avoid complications.

The woman, identified as Reshma T. Kamble, was proceeding from Mumbai to Kolhapur for delivery but the train was stranded in Thane flood waters since late Friday evening.

Later, it transpired that there were another nine women on board in different stages of pregnancy who were in distress and awaited food and medical help for hours, giving anxious moments to their relatives.

"Fortunately, all the pregnant women were evacuated on priority by the rescue teams, given preliminary medical help or kept under observation. All have been safely discharged now and there were no medical complications for any of the women," Central Railways' Chief Spokesperson Sunil Udasi told IANS.

The Indian Army, Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and the National Disaster Response Force had launched one of the biggest operations in the state since the great floods of July 26, 2005, to rescue an estimated 1,200 passengers stranded on the train with around 3-5 feet water on all sides.

Later this afternoon, the operation concluded successfully with all the passengers being taken to safer havens at Badlapur or Kalyan, without a single injury to anyone, said Udasi.