Injured bride-to-be searches for her father
LATE NIGHT HORROR Survivors and relatives of passengers struggle to come to terms with the enormity of loss
Ruby Gupta was going to Mau with her father for her December 1 wedding when the crash occurred. Hours later, she was still searching for her father in vain.
PUKHRAYAN (KANPUR DEHAT), PATNA: Till a day ago, these women looked forward to nothing beyond a blessed union in holy matrimony. The derailment of the Indore-Patna Express on Sunday morning changed all that.
Twenty-year-old Ruby Gupta was on her way to Mau in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh with her father, Ram Prasad Gupta, and four siblings for her December 1 wedding when the accident occurred. Several hours later, she was still searching for her father in vain.
“I cannot find my father. I have a fractured arm, and my sisters also sustained injuries,” she said.
Rajni, who was expecting her uncle’s family to arrive on the ill-fated train for her November 23 wedding in Patna, was equally shattered.
The 22-year-old called her uncle, Subodh Singh, at five that morning to check when they would be reaching the railway station. His reply left Rajni in tears. “Our train met with an accident, and your aunt and cousin are dead. I am injured,” Subodh mumbled in a broken voice.
Singh, a worker at the Konark cement factory, was coming to Patna with his wife, Ratnika, and daughters Shreya (3) and Shruti (5) when tragedy struck. Shruti was yet to be found by rescue workers.
Tulsi, a resident of Patna, had recently chosen a bright red bridal dress for her wedding on November 22. However, after hearing of her grandparents’ demise in the train crash, the 26-year-old just couldn’t imagine wearing the celebratory colour two days later.
While Tulsi lost her grandfather SP Singh and grandmother Mala Singh in the accident, five other relatives sustained grievous injuries. They were returning from a pilgrimage to Ujjain when the incident occurred.
“The groom, a probationary officer at the Bank of India, Puducherry, cannot obtain leave beyond November 24. We don’t know what will happen to the marriage now. We will probably hold a small ceremony at a temple,” said Kunal Kapoor, her uncle.
Over 120 were killed and 200 others injured when the train derailed near Kanpur.