Victims narrate horror, close shave for many

- Accident site presents gruesome picture
- The mishap took place in a village which is close to once Maoists’ dominated forest tract

Kuneru (Vizianagaram district): Death literally danced in the dead of the night at this remote and sleepy village in the dense forests on the Andhra-Odisha border when over 40 people breathed their last while in sleep on board the Bhubaneswar-bound Hirakhand express when it met with a gory accident.

The accident site presented a gruesome picture with bodies lying over the bogies, blood oozing out from bogies and eerie silence occasionally interrupted by screams from the survivors.

Kuneru with 1,000-odd population was jolted out of a deep slumber with deafening noise caused by the bogies banging against the earth after the derailment of the train. It became a witness to the horrific scenes with streams of blood, mangled bodies and cries for help from the hapless people trapped inside the bogies. When cranes were lifting the bogies, which fell on one side of the track after detached from the engine, heaps of bodies fell with a thudding noise.

Although all the bogies derailed, except the last one, mainly S-8, S-9 and general bogies bore the brunt of the accident as they have got the highest death roll.

“We had dinner and went to sleep when we heard a deafening sound and suddenly it was dark all over. Soon, we came to know that we met with a major accident,’’ says Singh, one of the survivors.

He saved his life with the help of rescue teams, battling for life till then inside his bogie. It was a tragic stories’ galore and those who lost their lives include a newlywed couple and seven members of the same family.

Amarnath Singh and Laxmi Bhai, who are running a grocery shop near the railway station, recounted their horrific experience, “We were about to go to bed when we heard an explosion-like noise. For a moment, we thought that it could be a bomb blast as it was quite familiar to people like us in the Maoist-dominated forest tracts.” “I ran to the spot and saw three bodies on top of a coach. Then there were screams all around,” Singh said. Later, he was followed by neighbours in streams attempting to pull the trapped passengers inside the bogies. A few hours later, the accident site became a beehive of activity with deployment of a posse of police and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams fanning out for rescue operations.

Most of the survivors were still in shock. Bodies were shifted to Parvatipuram and Rayagada in Odisha for autopsy.

Heart-wrenching scenes were witnessed at the hospitals with the near and the dear of the victims wailed inconsolably.

Passenger helpline centres

Visakhapatnam: Railways have set up passenger helpline centres over the zone with phone numbers at Rayagada, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam, an official release from the Waltair division said.

At Rayagada, railway phone numbers are: 85744, 85755, 85777 and 85788. BSNL landline Nos are: 06856-223400 and 06856-223500.

BSNL mobile numbers: 09439741181, 0943741071 and Airtel mobile numbers: 07681878777 and 07326812986.

At Vizianagaram, railway phone numbers are: 83331, 83332, 83333, 83334, BSNL land line Nos. 08922-221202, 08922-221206 and mobile

Nos: 08500358610 and 08500358712.

In Visakhapatnam, railway numbers include 83003, 83005 and 83006. BSNL landline Nos. are: 0891-2746344 and 0891-2746330.

The release further informed that the helpline number at Khurda Road is 0674-2490670, Bhubaneswar station 0674-2543360, Bahrampur station-06802229632 and two additional helpline numbers were provided at Bhubaneswar-0674-2534019 and 0674-2534020 besides Airtel mobile number 7894295707.

Koppara Gandhi