Train tragedy: ‘Families crushed away, limbless bodies and a bloodbath on the train tracks’

Kolkata: As a passenger on the Coromandal Express from Shalimar to Chennai, Anubhav Das was thankful to have escaped unscathed. On his social media feed, he described the collision of Shalimar-Chennai Coromandal Express and Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express as “the biggest train accident related incident.”

In a detailed Twitter thread, Das explained what had happened on Friday evening which resulted in the death of around 275 people and over 1,000 injured. He wrote: “Not to exaggerate but I have myself witnessed more than 200-250 deaths. Families crushed away, limbless bodies and a bloodbath on the train tracks. It was a sight that I will never forget. God help the families. My condolences.” He is a PhD scholar who was on his way back home to Cuttack from a field trip.

Out of the 1,200 passengers who came to Howrah from Balasore on Saturday, many who got down at Howrah Station had expressed relief and thanked their luck to have survived the accident. But many did not make it or are still hospitalised at Gopalpur, Khantapara, Balasore, Bhadrak and Soro.

Families of passengers who were present in either of the trains have been trying to search the bodies of their loved ones. A social media video of a man carrying around the picture of his son while looking at the lines of bodies lying there has been the state of many families trying to get in touch with their kin. Some are considering themselves to be fortunate to have at least found the bodies of their loved ones to complete the last rites. According to news reports, countless unclaimed bodies of passengers who lost their lives in the tragic train accident are lying around.

Five bodies arrived at Basanti of South 24-Parganas in Bengal from Balasore on Sunday morning and another at noon. It included bodies of three brothers from the same family. The families and the entire village have been mourning the death of six people from there.

Meanwhile, three labourers identified as Sheikh Jahur Ali, Musibul Pakhira and Jaynal Pakhira from Kolaghat in East Medinipur are still missing since the accident. Their families have been cursing the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandal Express that they were travelling in. They were going to Bhubaneswar for marble work.

According to the information shared by Railways, 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Coromandal Express was passing through Up Main line when it met with an accident and dashed with stationary goods train in Up Loop Line at Bahanaga Bazar Station. The train was going at full speed across the station as it was not supposed to stop there. The impact was such that its 21 coaches derailed with its three coaches infringing on the other line (Down line). 12864 Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express was passing through Bahanaga Bazar and collided with its rear-most two coaches and derailed.

SER plied two special trains on Sunday from Howrah to Balasore and back to Howrah at 10:30 am and 1 pm. These trains stopped at all stations between Howrah and Balasore. A special train was plied on Saturday to help the families of the deceased and the injured to travel to Balasore from Howrah. Apart from this, two trains — one was a relief train and another the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express — were sent to Howrah with 200 and 1,000 stranded passengers respectively. Out of these rescued passengers, those who needed medical treatment or first aid were attended to by the medical team of both the Railway and district administration available at Howrah Station. They were provided with water, food, transport and assistance by both the state and Railways. Several helpline numbers were launched soon after the accident. Following helpline numbers have been opened: 033-26382217 for Howrah, 8972073925 and 9332392339 for Kharagpur, 8249591559 and 9798418322 for Balasore, 9903370746 for Shalimar, 8109289460 and 8340649469 for Santragachi, 7894099579 and 9337116373 for Bhadrak, 9676974398 for Jajpur Keonjhar Road, 8455889917 for Cuttack, 06742534027 for Bhubaneswar, and 6370108046 and 06742492245 for Khudra Road.