Bhubaneshwar: For Phul Mohammad, a resident of Assam, who was traveling in the Coromandel Express which derailed in Balasore district of Odisha on Friday evening killing over 200 people and injuring hundreds others, it was a near death experience. Mohammad, who was traveling from Kolkata to Chennai, said the accident happened within a few seconds upending the life of hundreds of passengers.
“The accident happened in just five seconds. I thought I am going to die. It was a near death experience,” Mohammad told ETV Bharat at the site of accident late on Friday night as rescuers rummaged through the derailed bogeys of the Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train which met with the horrific accident.
Also read: Odisha triple train accident: Death toll rises to 238, injured 900
The death toll in the accident has risen to 238 while 900 others have been injured. Assam resident Phul Mohammad said that as the train derailed, there was a stampede like situation as the passengers in his bogey fell on each other. “I somehow shifted to a safe location and also rescued four to five people and injured my foot in the process,” Mohammad said.
Mohammad, who said he lived hand-to-mouth appealed the authorities for travel arrangements to Chennai, where he works as a labourer. Another survivor in the train accident, while recalling the moment the accident took place said that he had fallen asleep and woke up due to the derailment. “There was a stampede like situation as all the passengers fell on me. I injured my hand and neck in the process,” the passenger said.
While narrating the horrific scenes in the aftermath of the accident, the passenger said, “As I got out of the bogey, I saw people with amputated limbs and scarred faces”. A passenger from Kolkata working as a painter in Chennai who survived in the accident said that they will return home for now. Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena said that the rescue operation will run for several hours given the scale of casualties.
