A newly-married couple travelling from Secunderabad by Train number 22691 KSR Bengaluru City-Hazrath Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express were deboarded at Kazipet junction in Warangal district on Saturday morning after they were found with home quarantine stamp on their wrist in wake of COVID-19.
Panic spread on B-3 Third AC coach of the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express when a co-passenger alerted the Train Ticket Examiner about the two passengers with home quarantine stamp. A fellow passenger travelling in the same coach too sent a WhatsApp message to the railway officials expressing concern about the two passengers.
Top Railway officials said that the TTE found the two passengers hands with home quarantine stamp from Telangana State. They were supposed to be home quarantined till April 5.
The TTE immediately alerted the railway authorities. As soon as the train reached Kazipet junction at around 10 a.m., the railway police along with medical teams rushed to the compartment and deboarded the two passengers.
RPF Sub Inspector at Kazipet K. Jithender Reddy said the medical teams, in full protective gears, first made the couple wear protective gear and taken in a 108 ambulance to MGM Hospital in Warangal. Later in the day the couple was shifted to the Gandhi Hospital at Hyderabad.
The passengers travelling in the B-3 coach were accommodated in other compartments as the train was not running full. The railway authorities completely sanitized the coach before the train began its onward journey after a delay of 90 minutes.
Railway sources told The Hindu that the couple had booked their tickets only on Saturday morning through current reservation. They boarded the train at Secunderabad Junction at 7.50 a.m.
Preliminary enquiries revealed that the newly-married couple, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, had been to Indonesia for a holiday. They arrived at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad on Friday evening and during the thermal screening were advised home quarantine. It is not known, how they managed to leave the airport and board Rajdhani Express this morning.
