Amritsar train accident: Kin of injured, killed search for loved ones at hospitals

Many panic-stricken family members of those killed or wounded in the Amritsar train accident searched frantically from one hospital to another to know about the fate of their loved ones as the festive spirit drowned in sorrow and shock following the tragic incident.

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 the Ravana effigy was run over by a train near Joda Phatak in Amritsar.

"My son, Jugu, is missing since the train accident. I went to Civil Hospital and Guru Govind Hospital, but I am unable to find him," Sushila, who lives in a nearby area, told PTI.

Lakhmeet, another person who was looking for his brother-in-law and found him in a hospital, said: "I was shocked when I heard about the train accident. I got a call from home that my brother-in-law Sujeet, who went out to watch Dussehra celebrations last evening, had not come back home.

"All family members rushed to Guru Govind Hospital, where I was told Sujeet is admitted at Civil Hospital," he said.

Several other distraught family members of those injured or killed in the accident also had to search from one hospital to another to locate their loved ones.

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 Saturday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the accident after visiting the injured and the kin of those killed in the tragedy.

Most people who were mowed down by the speeding 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.