 "Odisha train crash")
With his mother by his side at the Balasore district hospital, 20-year-old Subhranshu Behera was recounting the Friday evening horror and how prompt assistance from the locals gave him a new lease of life.
Accompanied by his uncle, Behera had boarded the Shalimar-MGR Chennai Central Coromandel Express that left Balasore station at 6.39 pm, two minutes late from its scheduled departure. Ten minutes later, he called his mother to inform her that he had boarded the coach meant for the specially-abled because the general compartment was overcrowded.
Then came the minutes of destruction: a massive jolt followed by a complete blackout. The compartment keeled over, and he quickly found himself trapped under his fellow passengers.
“It was pitch black. I crawled out of the mangled coach out on to an open field. I called my mother again,” he told a local news channel.
He is one among the thousands of passengers left searching for answers — and loved ones — after the three-train crash that saw the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express unexpectedly change track (main line) and colliding with a stationary goods train on an adjacent track, also called the loop line.
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The impact of the collision was so forceful that 21 coaches of the Coromandel Express got derailed and were flung on to the adjacent tracks, where the Howrah-SMVT Superfast Express was passing through.
With little clarity on the sequence of events for nearly a day after the accident, survivor testimonies became even more important in piecing together the events of the day.
“Everything was shaking,” said Subodh Kumar from Bihar. All he remembers is waking up in a hospital.
“The train was moving quicker than usual,” wondered Bhagabata Prasad Ratha, a retired employee sitting near the Bahanaga railway station when the train collided with a cargo train.
The accident involving three trains killed 275 and injured nearly 1,000. The Centre has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for loss of life, Rs 2 lakh for grievous injuries, and Rs 50,000 for minor injuries.
“There was complete darkness. I felt a heavy stone on my back,” said Ratha, who had to “step on bodies to find my way home”.
“I don't think I could sleep for a few days,” he said.
Thousands of locals stepped up to help in the rescue and relief efforts at the site of the accident.
Rescue and relief efforts were underway for several hours before being completed on Saturday, with the wreckage making locating and rescuing survivors even tougher.
“There were bodies all around. People were screaming for help stuck inside the coaches,” said one of the locals, who quickly rushed to the spot to help in the search and rescue operations, as well as to assist the injured.
But for them, identifying the dead was a challenge, said Abhiram Das, who retrieved at least 20 bodies.
“When I went near a passenger lying in a field thinking he was dead, he moved his hand. The incident will haunt me for life,” said a visibly shaken Das.
“From tractors and cars to even bikes, locals ferried the passengers to nearby hospitals,” said Subhankar Jena, who was involved in the rescue operations “before the authorities reached the spot”.
He, however, rejected the official death toll, claiming that nearly 200 bodies were kept at the Bahanaga health centre itself.
Around 10.30 pm, a flood of S.O.S. messages inundated WhatsApp groups, urging immediate assistance.
One by Bijan Kumar Dash read: “Emergency! I am at Balasore Hospital to donate blood. Anyone nearby, please come forward and donate.”
Instantly, people queued up outside hospitals, eager to donate blood.
Jayant Panda, professor of medicine at the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack, said over 3,000 units of blood had been collected since Friday night.
The efforts of these volunteers and locals did not go unnoticed, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik praised their selflessness.
“The courage and compassion shown by the people of our nation in the face of adversity is truly inspiring. As soon as the train mishap took place in Odisha, people immersed themselves in assisting rescue operations. Several people lined up to donate blood,” Modi said in a tweet.
With inputs from Dhruvaksh Saha
