SURIVIVORS’ TALE
Prince Yadav, who was travelling in a general coach with his friends, said they managed to escape but a woman with her two children (five to six years old) drowned with the bogie.
ALLAHABAD: The surviving passengers of the Kamayani Express reached the city with horrifying memories of the twin derailments in Madhya Pradesh.
The ill-fated train pulled into platform 8 of the Allahabad junction station at 8.22pm, almost 21 hours after the tragedy at Harda.
“I was sitting on a lower berth in a general compartment with my friends. Suddenly, we heard a loud bang. We felt something pushing the train back. After few seconds, my friends and I saw that our coach had derailed. It was half-tilted. We understood that a mishap had occurred,” recalled Utsav Yadav, a BTech student and Allahbad resident, while t alking t o Hindustan Times.
“My friends and I immediately decided to jump off the bogie. Afterwards we entered a coach of the Janata Express which had already derailed. The coach overturned and was submerged in the flood water. We saw women, children and the elderly screaming for help but we were helpless,” said Yadav, who was retur ning from Mumbai with his friends Shivam and Ashish Pandey, natives of Gonda district and BTech students.
Anand, 23, who travelled with his mother Urmila, 45, and his niece Shiva, 8, in S5 coach of the train, said, “We were sleeping when the accident took place. Before I could assess the situation, I saw the coach getting submerged in flood water amidst screams of fellow passengers. I, along with my family members and five others, escaped through the emergency window. Other passengers including women and children, drowned with the bogie.”
Urmila sustained back injuries. They had boarded the train from Mumbai and were on way to Mirzapur.
Beena Singh, 32, who was on her way to Janghai and had boarded the train from Mumbai, recalled, “An earthquake-like jolt woke me up. The lights went off. I started screaming like the others. But I was saved by the grace of God.”
Simiilarly, Prince Yadav, who was travelling in a general coach with his friends, said they managed to escape but a woman with her two children (five to six years old) drowned with the bogie.
The experience of Mohd Istiyaq, 57, an Allahabad resident who boarded the train from Kalyan, was similar. Dhananjay Patil, 28, who was travelling in S1 coach to Kashi, said all the coaches beyond S3 were submerged.
My friends and I immediately decided to jump off the bogie. Afterwards we entered a coach of the Janata Express which had already derailed. The coach overturned and was submerged in the flood water.
UTSAV YADAV, victim