Some of the witnesses and survivors of the train crash in India, in which more than 260 people died and more than 1,000 were injured, told the BBC what they went through that day. Some escaped with their lives, but lost close relatives on the train, while others simply could not find out anything about the fate of those close to them, whom they knew had boarded the train.
suryaveer
“My mother and grandmother were on the train. They were going to town to buy medicine. I found grandma a few hours after the accident. He was living. But the mother was still missing. I looked everywhere for it and couldn’t find it.
I didn’t know what to do, so I sent a picture of her to all my friends and acquaintances. I shared her phone number and have the description of the clothes she was wearing the last time I saw her.
This morning I received news from a friend. He sent me a picture of a body – it was my mother. She was wearing the same dress.
All I want now is to take his body home so we can arrange his funeral. But there is still a lot of chaos there, there are no trains and the roads are blocked,” Suryaveer, a young Indian man whose mother and grandmother were on one of the trains involved in the accident, told the BBC.
Girija Shankar Rath
“It was chaos. There was a loud bang and everything was filled with smoke. People were running in all directions. We started pulling out the passengers stuck inside. We managed to get a few survivors out, but also some dead bodies.
There were so many injured people, we didn’t know how to get them out of there. It was a little easier after the response teams arrived. It lasted almost all night. I’m still in shock.”
Tutu Biswas
“There was a loud noise. When I left the house, I saw the accident. I saw the passenger train go under the freight train.
When we arrived at the scene, we saw many injured and many dead. A child, whose parents were probably dead, was crying. He also died shortly after.
Many were asking for water. I gave them as much water as I could. People from our village came and helped as much as they could. It was awful.”
Mukesh Pandit
“I was on the train when I felt a small jolt and the train derailed.
There was a hellish noise and the train overturned. I got trapped inside and was rescued by locals after half an hour.
All our luggage was thrown out. I haven’t found anything yet. Four of my countrymen survived, but many people are injured or still missing.
Many died in the carriage I was in. The seriously injured were taken to hospital.”
Hrithik Kumar
“My brother was sitting in his seat and I was sitting by the door of the carriage. When the train overturned, I managed to escape. I thought my brother escaped too, but it didn’t happen like that. He was trapped under the seat.
I ran and got him out of there, I also got out a little girl who was stuck next to him.
I called the police and the ambulance to come, yes it took half an hour for them to arrive.”
The worst accident in the last 20 years
The death toll in Friday’s rail accident in India, in which two passenger and one freight trains collided, has risen to 261 dead and more than 1,000 injured, according to the BBC. The accident, the worst on the railway lines in the last two decades in the Asian country, which resulted from the collision of three trains on Friday in Odisha’s Balasore, media agencies report.
It is India’s worst rail accident in two decades, after two trains collided in the northeastern state of West Bengal in August 1999, killing 288 people. About 800 people died in 1981 when a train derailed while crossing a bridge and plunged into a river in the northern state of Bihar.
The violent impact occurred around 7:00 pm local time when the Howrah Superfast Express, which was running from Bangalore to Howrah, derailed and was hit by the Coromandel Express, which was running from Kolkata to Chennai, railway officials said. It appears that one of the trains derailed after impact with a freight train and ended up on the opposite line, where it was hit head-on by the other passenger train.
More than 200 ambulances were sent to the scene. More than 100 doctors were mobilized. The death toll is expected to rise. Hundreds of people gathered in front of hospitals to donate blood. Footage from the scene showed rescuers climbing into the wrecked carriage of one of the trains to find survivors. Videos shared on social media showed several ambulances arriving and people being pulled from overturned train cars.
Publisher : BP
