Third suicide attempt in a week on Kolkata Metro's Blue Line; services disrupted for 40 minutes

Metro services in Kolkata were disrupted on Tuesday after an attempted suicide in one of its corridors, the third such incident in a week.

According to a report by the news agency PTI, the incident occurred at 11:31 AM on Tuesday, when a passenger jumped onto the tracks as a train was approaching. The report, however, did not specify which station the incident occurred at.

The attempted suicide affected services on the Blue Line, which connects the Dakshineswar and Garia areas in the northern and southern outskirts of the city, respectively.

The service disruption lasted around 40 minutes, affecting the stretch between Dakshineswar and Sobhabazar stations.

Normal services on the Blue Line were restored at 12.11 PM on Tuesday, a Metro official was quoted as saying.

Tuesday's incident comes days after another suicide attempt disrupted services on the same Blue Line.

That incident took place on Saturday, with a commuter attempting to take his life at the Mahatma Gandhi Road station, disrupting services from Belgachia to Park Street.

“Due to a suicide attempt at Mahatma Gandhi Road Station, Metro services on the Blue Line are presently available between Dakshineswar and Dum Dum Station and Maidan and Shahid Khudiram Station,” an alert on the Kolkata Metro app said on Saturday afternoon.

Although the man was lifted off the tracks, he was declared dead, the Medical College of Kolkata police said.

Saturday's incident followed on the back of yet another suicide attempt on Thursday, when services were affected for nearly an hour in the afternoon after an elderly man attempted to kill himself by jumping on the tracks at the Netaji station around 3.10 PM.

Normal services were restored on Thursday after a 55-minute gap, at 4:05 PM.

The elderly man who had jumped, however, also succumbed to his injuries at the hospital, police said.