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Loud roar & the heavens seemed to have crumbled on us: survivor

Horror stories galore when the overbridge fell on the coach

— Photo: PTI

REACHING OUT FOR HELP: A passenger trapped in a coach of the Howrah-Jamalpur Express, damaged when a pedestrian overbridge collapsed on it, pleads to be rescued in Bhagalpur on Saturday.

Bhagalpur: ``A loud roar and the heavens seemed to have crumbled over us. Thick clouds of dust streamed into the compartment leaving me gasping for breath,'' said Anil Yadav, one of those who escaped death when an overbridge collapsed on a running train on Saturday morning.

It was 7.50 a.m. when the Jamalpur-bound superfast train from Howrah was about to reach Bhagalpur station that tragedy struck.

A portion of the nearly century-and-a-half-year-old road overbridge, curiously named ulta pulta (upside down) bridge that remained to be dismantled after two thirds of it had already been pulled down by the Railways, came crashing down on the S-8 sleeper class coach trapping many inside.

The falling debris smashed half the coach, 11th from the engine, badly, and caused it to derail.

``As the train was about to reach the station I, along with several others, was standing at the gate when suddenly I heard a noise resembling thunder and saw half the coach on the opposite end crumble under the impact. I jumped out in horror,'' said a shaken Manju Rai, who had boarded the train at Ghogha for Bhagalpur.

Soon hundreds of people gathered at the scene and, before official help could reach the victims, many began digging into the debris with bare hands to extricate the trapped passengers.

``I and others like me who had reached the place to enquire, had pulled out 8-9 injured passengers by the time the ambulance arrived and sent them to hospitals,'' said Rahul Kumar, a volunteer helping the administration in rescue efforts.

A bulldozer arrived on the scene about an hour after the mishap to clear the debris but the locals complained that it was too small to make a difference to the rescue operations.

The efforts to remove the debris began in right earnest a couple of hours after the accident when more powerful excavating machines arrived.

Youth volunteers were seen trying to pull the injured passengers trapped inside and crying and gesturing for help.

While some were lucky to be extricated with the help of ropes, others were not.

``The Railway authorities alone are responsible for the tragedy as they allowed a train to pass under the bridge which could have crumbled any time,'' said an agitated Ram Kumar.

``They have played with the lives of innocent passengers. Now they should ensure that those injured get proper medical attention at Railways' cost,'' he said.

On November 30, at around 10.50 p.m., while the dismantling work of the first and second arches of the over-bridge was going on, portions of it had fallen down blocking the railway track and obstructing train movement.

Though the Railways had pulled down the two arches, the last span that was left standing collapsed on Saturday, about 24 hours after traffic had resumed on the track. — PTI

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