The Hindu : National : A terrible experience

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 22, 2005

National

National

A terrible experience

SAMALAYA (GUJARAT): Survivors of the collision involving Ahmedabad-bound Sabarmati Express and a goods train described the accident as a "terrible experience" and narrated stories of heart-rending scenes.

One of the passengers, Mohammed Akhtar, said: "I was asleep in the S9 coach [one of the badly damaged coaches] when I heard a loud noise." He managed to climb out of the coach and amidst the cries and wails of the passengers in the breaking light of the day, the most painful scene Akhtar saw was that of a 12-year-old boy crying beside his mother's decapitated body that lay in the mangled of one of the coaches.

"The boy was sitting beside his mother. Her head was missing," he said. "He had identified her by her clothes," Akhtar said.

"I was sleeping when I fell from the upper berth. There was a deafening crash. We tried getting out of the coach, but the door was jammed," said a passenger, Preeti Thakkar, 23, who was in the hospital with an injured collarbone. "It was terrible. People were screaming in the dark and everyone was pushing to get out of the train," said Preeti Thakkar, who was travelling with her parents. After about two hours, she said, soldiers were able to cut through the door of the coach and pull out those trapped inside. She was taken to hospital by rescue workers. "I don't know about my parents. I have not seen them since it happened," she said, weeping.

Cricket fans to the rescue

Many of the survivors said the nearby villagers were the first to reach the spot and help in the rescue operation. Cricket enthusiasts, who had gathered at Samlaya village to watch a night-and-day match, were among the first to reach the accident site and start rescue work. The cricket match was organised by a local organisation and was being held near the site.

The efforts of the local people saved several passengers, eye-witnesses and railway employees said. Railway officials and rescue teams reached the spot an hour later, eyewitnesses said.

A team of 40 Indian Air Force personnel, comprising a medical team from Air Force Station, Vadodara, rushed to the aid of the victims.

The IAF authorities sent a convoy of three ambulances and two vehicles carrying medicines and other rescue equipment with Air Force doctors, nursing assistants and airmen, who were among the first to reach the accident site. — PTI, AP, UNI

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