The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Piles of bones in charred bogies

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Saturday, Aug 02, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Piles of bones in charred bogies

Suresh Krishnamoorthy

KESAMUDRAM (Warangal dt): All that was visible as indicators of death were a dozen and more piles of bones wrapped in bed sheets, carrying the tag of South Central Railway, in the S-10 bogie of the ill-fated Gautami Express that left Secunderabad on Thursday night.

While officials could not fix the number of people who lost their lives even 24 hours after the accident, but, judging from the passenger manifest, it was revealed that 32 people were missing.

The only two passengers, whose bodies were identified are B. Saritha (28), a doctor, who was pregnant and Bhagyalakshmi (39) bound for Rajahmundry. Ravi Kumar, husband of Dr. Saritha, was still missing. The rest 32 are said to have either got down from the train or gone missing.

Act of bravery

Soon after the fire was noticed, the train was brought to a halt when someone pulled the chain.

Many more lives would have been lost but for the dare devil act of three RPF personnel. Risking their lives, constables, R. Srinivas, Ramesh and Ganapathi saved the lives of at least 200 passengers by pushing them off the burning bogies.

On hearing about the incident, the Minister of State for Railways Narayan Bhai Rathwa flew down from Delhi to Hyderabad and rushed to the spot about 215 km from the State capital in a special train. He got down at Warangal and called on the injured passengers at MGM Hospital and proceeded to the spot. There was one child travelling in the ill-fated S-10 bogie, a fact deduced was from the size of the skull.

Earlier, the first special to reach the spot was that of the SCR General Manager, H.K. Padhee. He was followed by Commissioner of Railway Safety R.P. Agarwal in another special.

He reached Kesamudram Railway Station where the five bogies were towed and stationed on a separate track.

The Commissioner checked the lead acid batteries looking out for residual voltage and other indications as to the possible cause of the accident. He was heard asking for the charred bogies to be moved to the sick line in the nearest workshop so that investigations could be taken up in an organised, scientific manner.

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Andhra Pradesh