Mumbai, March 18 (IANS): In a huge scare, four passengers who allegedly jumped 'quarantine' to travel from Mumbai to Surat, were deboarded from the Mumbai-Delhi Garib Rath train here on Wednesday, Western Railway officials sources said.

Barely an hour after the train left Mumbai, some alert passengers and the travelling ticket examiners raised an alarm when they noticed the four co-travellers with the "quarantine stamp" on the back of their palms.

The train was stopped at Palghar, the four passengers were offloaded from coach Nos. G4 and G5 and promptly handed over to a medical team there.

Questioning by the local health authorities revealed that they had come from Germany and were headed towards home in Surat.

"The passengers were immediately handed over to the Palghar District medical authorities who also confirmed that they were 'stamped' at Mumbai Airport for a 14-day compulsory quarantine," an official told IANS.

Its not clear how they managed to evade the attention of the Mumbai health authorities, reach the railway station, book tickets, boarded the train and travel unhindered for over an hour before being offloaded at Palghar station, barely a couple of hours from their intended destination (Surat).

The four passengers are currently lodged in a Palghar medical facility and further details are awaited.

It may be recalled that on Monday, the Maharashtra authorities had implemented the decision to 'stamp' all people arriving from COVID-19 affected countries and shunted to 14 days' compulsory quarantine as a precaution.