Passengers and onlookers recount the horrifying scene of the India train crash, filled with desperate cries for assistance
Three trains’ carriages formed a tangled wreck, stacked high. Some rested sideways, while others were flung into the air and landed twisted and upside down.
A row of bodies, covered in white sheets, lay beside the wreckage, awaiting transport by ambulances, local vehicles, and even tractors to nearby hospitals. Belongings of the passengers were strewn around them, with shoes, toys, and open suitcases scattered about.
One of the deadliest train accidents in India in nearly twenty years resulted in this devastating aftermath. On Friday evening, the Coromandel Express, operating between Kolkata in West Bengal and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, collided with a freight train in the eastern state of Odisha. Consequently, some carriages of the Howrah Superfast Express train, traveling in the opposite direction, derailed.
As of Saturday morning, the death toll reached 280, with an additional 900 individuals injured. However, authorities anticipate that these numbers will increase as ongoing rescue efforts persist. Thousands of personnel have been deployed to the scene, utilizing rescue dogs and metal cutters in an attempt to locate and assist those trapped within the twisted wreckage.
Distraught family members of the train passengers hurried to the scene, desperately sifting through the bodies in search of their loved ones. Among them was Rabindra Shau, aged 53, anxiously seeking his son Govinda, who had boarded the Coromandel Express from Shalimar.
“Please, I beg you, help me locate my son. Even if it’s just his lifeless body,” he pleaded.
Sheikh Zakir Hussain, aged 35, hailing from West Bengal, shared his anxious quest for information about his older brother Abdul Sheikh, his 22-year-old son Mehraj Sheikh, and three neighbors. All of them had boarded a train near Shalimar and were en route to Chennai for work
Upon learning about the accident, I immediately attempted to contact my brother and nephew, but their phones were switched off,” he expressed. “I arrived early in the morning and have been tirelessly moving between different hospitals, yet there is no sign of them.
“I even went to the crash site and witnessed piles of lifeless bodies lying there. I scrutinized the faces of over 100 deceased individuals, but couldn’t locate my brother, nephew, or neighbors.”
Toton Sekh, from Basanti in West Bengal, rushed to the scene on Saturday morning in search of his 24-year-old nephew, Abu Taher Shekh, who was returning from Chennai on the ill-fated train. He described the crash site as resembling a nightmarish landscape, with “stacks of deceased bodies arranged in a school.”
According to him, officials were unable to locate his nephew, and he could not find him in any hospitals. “The officials informed me that some bodies still remained trapped inside the damaged train coaches, and it would take time to extricate them all,” he revealed
Approximately 10 out of the 23 coaches constituting the Coromandel Express suffered severe damage, while two carriages of the Howrah Superfast Express train overturned. Survivors who were on board the colliding trains recounted the horrifying experience.
One survivor recounted being asleep when his carriage derailed, abruptly awakening him. “Around 10 to 15 people fell on top of me,” he shared with an Indian news channel. “I injured my hand and neck. When I exited the train, I witnessed limbs scattered all around, a leg here, a hand there. Someone’s face was disfigured.”
Gobinda Mondal, a laborer from Chennai, occupied the first coach of the Coromandel Express that derailed. “There was a sudden crash, and my coach derailed at a high speed. It skidded for a considerable distance,” he recalled. He described how he managed to escape by forcing his way through a broken window of the carriage. “I could see injured individuals inside the coach, seeking assistance. One of them complained of chest pain
Subhankar Ruidas, a passenger aboard the Howrah Express, mentioned that his carriage remained undamaged during the incident but experienced a “tremor-like feeling when our train collided with the Coromandel Express.”
Local residents, upon hearing the screeching brakes and the dreadful sound of the trains colliding, swiftly rushed to the scene and tirelessly worked to extract passengers from the wreckage. Ashok Samal, a shopkeeper, recounted to the Hindustan Times that he immediately ran to the tracks upon hearing the crash.
“There were loud screams and blood everywhere,” he recounted. “Several individuals in the trapped carriages were crying out for help. I witnessed numerous bodies trapped beneath the overturned coaches.”
Nearby hospitals became overwhelmed with the deceased and injured. A doctor at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack mentioned, “Some have suffered limb amputations, and many have sustained serious injuries across their bodies. Around 20 injured individuals who were brought to me passed away while we were attempting to treat them.
“The hospital is flooded with the injured. They are lying on the floor. We are rushing from one patient to another. I just managed to tend to the wounds of a young girl child, who is now stable. However, we have no information about her parents.