Mother’s stick saves family of 7 Volunteers assist victims, rescuers

Patna, Nov. 21: An elderly woman’s “charri” (stick) proved to be the saviour for a family of seven from Muzaffarpur in the tragic Indore-Patna Express derailment Uttar Pradesh.

The family of businessman Manoj Chaurasia of Muzaffarpur in Bihar, had boarded the ill-fated train at Indore and were going to their home in Patna.

Mr Chaurasia said his mother’s walking stick saved the lives of his family. He said that all the seven members of his family were trapped in bogey B S1 after the accident.

“Trapped inside the damaged bogey, I broke in Pukhrayan: Amid scenes of tragedy, a number of good Samaritans took it upon themselves to provide succour to the traumatised passengers of the Indore-Patna Express and help out the rescuers and others on the site by providing food and water. Volunteers from several NGOs, RSS and even from many political outfits remained at the site as rescuers struggled to pull out passengers trapped in the mangled bogies. the window pane with the help of my mother’s stick and came out after nearly an hour of the mishap,” he said and thanked the Almighty for the providential escape. “Maa ki charri ne pure parivar ki jaan bacha li (My mother’s stick saved life of the entire family),” he said.

Walking with the help of the “life-saving lucky” stick, the elderly mother was in shock and could not speak anything.

Mr Chaurasia’s wife Nandini said while the attendant of the coach and a few other passengers in the bogey lost their lives, for them, “Maut choo kar nikal gayi (death passed off touching us).”

The family left for their home after the special train arrived at Patna junction from the accident site at Pukhrayan in rural Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh around 4.05 am on Monday.

Meanwhile, Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal is camping at Patna junction to supervise the relief provided to victims and their kins. The team of doctors present at the station attended to the injured and a few of them were immediately rushed to hospitals in an ambulance parked at the station, the DM said. — PTI