Amritsar: A WhatsApp photograph of a head flashed on Vijay Kumar's phone screen at 3 am Saturday, confirming his worst fears –his 18-year-old son Manish was one of the revellers mowed down by a train while they were watching Ravan's effigy burnt the evening before.
His younger son, Ashish, returned safely from the festivities, said Kumar, but the frantic search for Manish ended with that 'ping' on his phone. He has since been roaming from hospital to hospital looking for the remains of his elder son.
It was a night of unspeakable horrors, said the father, aware that his son was decapitated when the train hurtled through the tracks, killing 61 people and injuring more than 70. A leg was found and one hand, but they are not Manish's.
"My son was wearing blue jeans. This one is not wearing blue jeans. I have lost my world," an inconsolable Kumar said outside the Guru Nanak Hospital, attached to the Government Medical College, where most of the 70 who were injured Friday evening have been taken.
As people milled around the hospital compound, some stunned into silence by the enormity of the tragedy that felled their loved one and others holding back tears, the injured were inside, grappling with their wounds and trying to piece together what had happened.
Among them was Sapna, who was on a WhatsApp call with her husband Satender to relay the 'Ravan Dahan' event live to him, when the accident took place.
The 30-year-old, who suffered head injuries, said she saw body parts scattered around the tracks and a severed head.
"When the effigy was set afire, people started moving away from the stage and towards the tracks," she said, recalling the minutes before tragedy struck.
As a train approached the area, people tried to clear the tracks and move towards another line, leading to a stampede-like situation. Moments later, another train came from the opposite direction at a high speed and ran over the crowds.
She said they could not hear sound of the horn due to the sound of the bursting crackers.
"The train driver should have noticed the crowd as there was light and people were holding their mobile phones up to record the event," Sapna said.
Sapna lost her cousin and her one-year-old niece, who she said were not killed crushed by the train but in the stampede that ensued. The baby was flung on the stones and the mother was probably trampled to death by the crowds trying to flee.
Jagunandan, a 40-year-old wage labourer from Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh who has suffered injuries in the head and leg, said he was not standing near the tracks but was pushed as people started running away from the main stage after the Ravan effigy was set afire.
The father of four was brought to hospital by a relative, who accompanied him to the event.
Seven-year-old girl Khushi, who accompanied her mother Paramjit Kaur for the festivities, remains in a state of shock on her hospital bed.
Khushi, who also fell close to the tracks, was brought to the hospital in an unconscious state. She lies wordless in her hospital bed. She, too, fell close to the tracks.
Recounting the minutes before the disaster, most of the injured said they could not hear the horn of the approaching train. They said another train had passed moments earlier. The sound of the firecrackers as the effigy came down, the train heading at a high speed led to commotion, triggering a stampede like situation, they said.
Motilal, a 35-year-old daily wager from Bihar's Gopalganj district who is undergoing treatment for chest injuries at the civil hospital, said, "I was standing on one side of the tracks. Suddenly, people started running and I fell down. Everything happened in a fraction of a second, giving very little time to people to react."
Sandeep, a 23-year-old resident of Amritsar, suffered serious head injuries and was admitted to the civil hospital.
Her husband, Jitendra, a daily wager, said his wife, their two children and father-in-law had gone to watch 'Ravaan dahan'.
Man who essayed character of Ravana also killed in accident
Amritsar: The man who played the character of demon king Ravana at the Ram Leela at Joda Phatak was among those killed in the train accident.
After he enacted the role of Ravana, Dalbir Singh, in his twenties, was watching the burning of an effigy from the tracks when he, along with 58 others, was run over by a train.
Dalbir has an eight-month-old daughter.
Unable to control her emotions, Dalbir Singh's mother said her son was playing different characters in the Ram Leela for the past many years.
"My son played the role of Ravana at the Ram Leela, which was held on the ground at Dhobi Ghat adjacent to Joda Phatak...he is no more...He too was run over by the train," the mother said.
Manoj, a friend of Dalbir, said he had been playing the role of Ravana for the past five years at the Ram Leela, which is held at a ground a little distance away from the accident site.
His mother says said that Dalbir's body would not be cremated until the family gets compensation from the government.
Seeking job for the widow of Dalbir Singh, his mother said that the state government should give her a government job so that the family could sustain their livelihood. "We want justice...it is unfortunate that none from the government or any politician has visited the family," she said.
Firecrackers, festive euphoria made people oblivious to approaching train
Amritsar: A burning effigy of Ravana, bursting of firecrackers and festive euphoria made Dussehra revellers oblivious to the train approaching them, and, in a matter of seconds, bodies were left strewn on railway tracks, eyewitnesses of the tragic accident in Amritsar recounted on Saturday.
At least 59 people were killed on Friday evening after a crowd of Dussehra revellers that had spilled onto railway tracks while watching the burning of the Ravana effigy was run over by a train near Joda Phatak here.
"I was watching the burning of effigy of Ravana and suddenly I heard massive sound. After a few seconds, bodies of women, children and men were lying on the railway tracks. The moment was very devastating," Jaspreet, an eyewitness, said.
Another eyewitness, Gurpreet, said: "We all were busy watching the Dussehra celebrations. Huge voice of firecrackers drowned the sound of the arriving train and we could not understand for a few seconds what had actually happened."
The train was coming from Jalandhar when the accident occurred at Joda Phatak near Amritsar, where at least 300 people were watching 'Ravana dahan' at a ground adjacent to the tracks.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the accident after visiting the injured and the kin of those killed in the tragedy.
Suraj Prakash, another eyewitness, said a few minutes before the Jalandhar-Amritsar train mowed down the revellers, another train going to Howrah from Amritsar passed through the area on another track, but it did not hurt anyone.
"How can it be possible that a train which passed through the area a few moments back, did not cause any casualty, but another train killed several innocent people.
"It was the mistake of train driver (Jalandhar-Amritsar train). After the train passed, screams of people could be heard from everywhere," he said.
Sukhpal, who was at the site, said there was no lighting around the tracks which made matters worse.
Another local, Jasvinder, alleged that the place where the Dussehra celebrations were held was not enough to accommodate so many people and there was no barricading, which could have made it difficult for people to reach the railway tracks.
Most people who were mowed down by the train were migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
A senior official in the district administration said most migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar work in an industrial area at a stone's throw away from the accident site and live nearby.
Families bid tearful adieu to those killed
Amritsar: Families and relatives Saturday bid an emotional goodbye to 39 of the 59 people killed in the tragic train accident here that has sent shock waves across the country.
The mortal remains were consigned to flames at different cremation grounds here as heartbroken friends and family members of the deceased wept inconsolably, not ready to believe their loved ones were no more.
Some of the tragedy-struck women fainted at the cremation grounds when the funeral pyres of their relatives were lit. Parents of the children killed in the accident broke down several times.
Davinder found it really hard to come to terms with his brother's death.
Several members of his family, hailing from Bihar, were killed in the horrific accident.
Earlier, officials said 40 of the 59 people killed in the accident had been identified.
At least 59 people were killed Friday evening after a crowd of Dussehra revellers that had spilled onto railway tracks while watching the burning of a Ravana effigy was run over by a train near Joda Phatak here.