As the train between Aligarh and Delhi ran into a heap of ballast (stones) ``dumped on the track'', the passengers thought that either a bomb had gone off or that the train was on fire. They panicked and jumped out of the train, only to be mowed down by the Gomti Express thundering down on the parallel track at 3.50 pm. Four other passengers who followed suit suffered serious injuries.

Train AD-5 had left Wair station at 3.37 pm. A departmental material train (DMT) had cleared the track a little while before AD-5 left the station. The DMT was carrying ballast and had dumped it ``on the track'' near Dankaur. According to the initial report the ``ballast dashed with force against the train''.

The subsequent noise led the passengers aboard to believe that something was seriously amiss. In the panic that followed, passengers jumped out ofthe train right onto the path of the Gomti Express.