Passengers saw a snake in the Thiruvananthapuram-Nizamuddin Express. (Representational Image)
The Thiruvananthapuram-Nizamuddin Express was made to stop at Kozhikode in Kerala for more than an hour to search for a snake spotted by passengers in one of the compartments of the train, but the reptile was not found.
Railway sources told news agency Press Trust of India that the passengers informed a ticket checker about a snake between the luggage underneath a lower berth in S5 compartment of the train on Wednesday night, soon after the train left Tirur station.
Passengers in the train started to panic as news about the snake spread, the sources told Press Trust of India.
As soon as the communication reached the railway authorities at Kozhikode station, they arranged experts from the Forest department to trace the snake.
All passengers in the compartment where the snake was seen stepped off the train at Kozhikode station at around 10:15 pm and a thorough search was conducted by two snake catchers, arranged by the Forest officials.
However, the snake could not be caught, railway sources told PTI.
Quoting the snake catchers, railway sources said the reptile, as seen in a photo taken by a passenger, was just a rat snake and might have escaped or hid in a hole found alongside the compartment.
The train resumed its journey after the hole was sealed by midnight, the sources told Press Trust of India.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)