Mourning, pain and despair. This is what has been going on in the state of Odisha, in eastern India, since Friday night following the clash of three trains in which at least 288 people died and more than 1,000 were injured.
It is the country’s worst rail tragedy so far this century, when two passenger trains and one freight train collided and derailed.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shocked by the tragic accident and expressed his condolences to the families affected.
“Rescue work is underway at the crash site and all possible help is being given to those affected,” Modi tweeted.
BBC India managed to speak with relatives of victims who died in the accident, an injured passenger and residents of the area.
Suryaveer
My mother and my grandmother were on the train. They went to the city to buy medicines.
I found my grandmother a few hours after the accident. she was alive. But my mother had disappeared. We looked for it everywhere, but we couldn’t find it.
I didn’t know what to do, so I sent a photo of my mother to all my friends and acquaintances. I also shared her number and described the color of the dress she was wearing the last time I saw her.
This morning I heard from one of my friends. They sent me a photo of a corpse: it was my mother. She was wearing the same dress.
All I want now is to be able to take her body back home so we can put her to rest. But here there is a lot of chaos, there are no trains and the roads are clogged.
Girija Shankar Rath
It has been chaos. There was a loud noise and there was smoke everywhere.
People were running in all directions. I was near the tracks and decided to run to the place. We started extricating some of the trapped passengers. We managed to get some survivors and also some corpses.
There were so many wounded that we did not know how to get them out. It was a little easier when the rescue teams arrived. The work lasted almost all night. I’m still in a daze.
Tutu Biswas
We hear a loud noise. When we left the house, we saw that the accident had happened outside. I saw that the freight train had gotten on another train.
When I got to the place, I saw that there were many injured and many people had died. There was a little boy crying whose parents had probably died. That child also died after a while.
Many people asked for water. I gave them water as much as possible. People from our town came here and helped people as much as they could. It was horrible.
mukesh pandit
I was on the train when we felt a slight jolt and the train derailed.
A thunderous noise was heard and the train overturned. I got trapped and some people from the area rescued me after half an hour.
All our belongings were scattered. I can not find anything. I went out and sat on the ground. Four passengers traveling from my town have survived, but many are injured or missing.
Many people died in the carriage in which he was traveling. The seriously injured were taken to the hospital.
ritik kumar
My brother was sitting on his bunk and I was standing by the carriage door.
When the train overturned, I managed to escape. I thought my brother would have escaped too, but he didn’t. He got stuck under his seat.
I ran back to the wreckage of the train and pulled it out. I also took out a girl who was stuck with him.
I called the police and ambulance services, but they took half an hour to arrive.
Photos by Hemant Behara and additional information from the Reuters news agency.
TOdeadly train accidents in india
- June 1981: Nearly 800 people died when seven of nine overcrowded train cars fell into a river during a cyclone.
- August 1995: At least 350 people die when two trains collide 200 km from Delhi.
- August 1999: two trains collide near Calcutta, killing at least 285 people.
- October 2005: 77 people die when a train derails in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
- November 2016: Nearly 150 people are killed and as many injured when 14 carriages of the Indore-Patna Express train derailed near the city of Kanpur.
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