As per the police records, the incident occurred when the Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram Express was travelling close to Shoranur Bridge, the workers who were involved in removing debris from the rail track. The impact of the accident forced the workers off the track with three of them found dead on the spot and the other one said to have been taken by the Bharathapuzha River. There are attempts being made to recover the fourth body.
Superintendent of Shoranur Railway Police said that due to non attentiveness the workers might not have seen the coming express train which resulted in the mishap. It had no railway stations with timetable for a stop over and initial investigations suggest that the bullet train, most probable travelling at high speed, mowed down the workers eminently.
Some of the casualties were mentioned to be contract workers while the mishap has left people inboth Kerala and Tamil Nadu in shock and sorrow. In a press release, Tamil Nadu government condoled the death of the people and assured support to all the families of the affected persons.
While ongoing investigations are being conducted to establish the role safety might have played in the accident, the issue of the conditions and measures followed carrying out track maintenance work is an area of concern.