Carrying traumatised survivors, Kanchanjunga Express reaches Sealdah
Passengers deboarded at Sealdah at 3:30 a.m., with tales of horror; poor mobile network at accident site added to fears as victims were left incommunicado; Railway, municipal authorities provided first aid, food, a ride home
As the 13174 DN Kanchanjunga Express chugged onto platform number 13 of Sealdah Station in the early hours of Tuesday, the passengers who had survived Monday’s accident, which left ten people dead, heaved a sigh of relief.
Exhausted by the long journey and traumatised with their near-death experience, the passengers narrated their ordeal after deboarding the train at around 3:30 a.m.
“I am still in shock,” said Gopal Debnath, 27, with an exhausted look on his face. “I was asleep but was jolted by the impact of collision. Everyone was terrified. People started screaming in shock. It was raining heavily then, but many were still jumping out to flee from the train,” Mr. Debnath recalled.
Like several other passengers, Mr. Debnath and his co-passenger Kartik Sarkar, 40, decided against waiting in the train. “We did not know if this train would resume its journey towards Sealdah. So we took our bags and started walking down the rail tracks. Somehow we could find a bus that brought us to Malda,” Mr. Sarkar said. Both Mr. Debnath and Mr. Sarkar boarded the train again at Malda to reach Sealdah on Tuesday morning.
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‘Given a second life’
Abhimanyu Dey, in his mid-30s, limped as he walked towards the station’s exit gate. The passenger from Agartala sprained his ankle when the train crashed and he fell off from his seat due to the severe impact. “This is like a second life that God has given us. I have only seen such visuals on TV. I went into shock when I myself felt the jolt of the crash,” Mr. Dey said.
What added to the fears of hundreds of passengers on the Kanchanjunga Express was an irregular phone network at the accident site at Rangapani. Madhyamgram resident Biswajit Dey, 45, who was returning home from Agartala after attending his father-in-law’s last rites, recalled how going incommunicado was worrisome for both him and his family. “We were all very scared, and to add to our fears, we were not even able to contact our families and tell them what happened,” Mr. Dey said.
Similar feelings were shared by Ila Pal, who was travelling with her four-member family from Assam. “It was horrific, we felt two huge jolts. The number of dead bodies was huge. The scene was filled with blood, we saw all of it because we were only two compartments before the derailed bogeys. It was traumatising,” she said.
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Railway support
The passengers were full of questions as to how the accident had occurred. Ratna Biswas, 58, who had came to Kolkata from Agartala for her husband’s cancer treatment was still trying to find reasons for the crash. “The driver himself died in the crash. How could he have done this intentionally?” She added, “Government and railway officials have helped us a lot. From asking about our health to getting us food and getting a doctor to visit, they did all of it.”
The passengers were provided with first aid, food and other necessities by Railway authorities.
Senior Railway officials were present at the station when the train arrived, along with Firhad Hakim, mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Mr. Hakim said that several vehicles have been made available to take passengers home. “Nearly 60 cars are currently stationed at Sealdah to help returnee passengers reach their destination. More will arrive if needed. We have also arranged for buses and ambulances so that passengers do not face any difficulties going home from here,” Mr. Hakim said.
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Body returned
However, not everyone was able return home. Sankar Mohan Das, a Railway Mail Service employee was on a job extension and was in the parcel van when the goods train hit the Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express. On Tuesday morning, his body arrived at his Kolkata residence and large numbers of people from the neighbourhood, including local politicians, arrived to offer their condolences.
Two other Railways employees died in the accident —Anil Kumar, the loco pilot of the goods train, and Asish Dey, guard of the Kanchanjunga Express — along with seven passengers.
- Telegram
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