Budding athlete dies after head hits pole along railway tracks

He was returning to Ranchi from Assam by Kamakhya Express after participating in the 28th East Zone Junior Athletics Championship when the incident occurred.

Dhanbad: A 15-year-old member of Jharkhand athletics squad was killed Wednesday morning when his head hit a pole along the railway tracks while he was standing at the door of a train compartment near Mugma station in the district.

Vivek Kumar Baitha was returning to Ranchi from Assam by Kamakhya Express along with the 61-member squad after participating in the 28th East Zone Junior Athletics Championship when the incident occurred.

His family resides in Morabadi area of Ranchi.

Vivek was standing on the right side door of the bogey and his head hit the track-side pole between Mugma and Thapar Nagar railway stations, GRP official at Kumardhubi station J Singh said

Under the impact of the collision he fell from the train and before his fellow athletes could pull the chain, the train had already moved about one-and-half km. His team members and the train escort party began a search and found his body on the tracks.

Though, Vivek, did not win a medal in the hurdle race of the athletics championship in which he had participated, but Jharkhand team had bagged a bronze medal in the overall team championship.

Jharkhand Olympic Association's senior vice president Zubair Alam, who reached the spot, said, "It is a major jolt to the state as he was a budding athlete."