Shock, horror for bloodied train accident survivors

SAINTHIA - Shock, pain and sheer horror: Survivors of the train accident in the early hours of Monday in this West Bengal town recalled the fateful moment when they were rudely waken up from their sleep with a jerk and a deafening sound.

“I saw there were many injured people in the coach ahead of ours. Many had lost their upper or lower limbs. Some others had lost the upper parts of the body. Oh! That was so shocking!” said a woman who was travelling in the Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express that was hit from the rear by a speeding Uttar Banga Express killing 60 people and injuring 150.

“I was sleeping with my child. Suddenly I was jolted by a big jerk,” she said.

The accident plunged both the trains into darkness. Confusion prevailed as passengers ran helter-skelter trying to make out what had happened. Some thought that the train had derailed — sabotaged just like the Gynaeshwari Express in May.

“First we thought the train has derailed. Then I managed to come out. What I saw will remain with me lifelong like a chronic nightmare,” said the woman, clutching her baby.

Sanjoy Ghosh had boarded the Sealdah-bound Uttar Banga Express at Malda along with his ailing mother.

“I was in the second compartment. It was around 2.15 or 2.20 a.m. when I heard a loud explosion and there was a heavy jerking. I fell down from my berth. There was chaos inside the compartment as the passengers thought it was a sabotage like Gyaneshwari accident,” said Ghosh.

“After we got down from the train at 2.45 a.m. we realised the dimension of the disaster. I along with few of the fellow passengers went inside the Sainthiya station to call for help. But to our utter surprise there was no one inside the platform. After that we went out and called locals for help,” said Ghosh, who was injured on his right hand.

Ghosh blamed the railway authorities for not reacting quickly.

“Had the rescue team reached the spot bit early, many valuable lives could have been saved,” he said.

“Where is the security of the railway commuters?” he asked.

R.N. Ghosh, another passenger of the Uttar Banga Express, was similarly woken up from sleep by a loud sound.

“The train was dark. For a few minutes we were dumbfounded. The station was also dark. I saw people running in panic. Then I found that Uttar Banga has hit another train. Three of the rear bogies of the train (Vananchal) were practically destroyed,” he said.