Siliguri (West Bengal): Little did Nabashri Saha Chowdhury, a young woman from Siliguri, know that she would be a victim of a train accident of colossal nature. The horror-stricken woman saw deaths from close quarters not even a week ago. By her own admission, since childhood, she watched such mishaps in movies and in TV serials.
"I used to see how horrible train accidents are in movies or on television. I never thought that it would happen to me and that the train I was travelling in would be affected by an accident. Now, I don't want to board any train," Nabashri said.
She has escaped death but the horrific memory of the tragedy still haunts her. She didn't talk to anyone for two consecutive days following the ordeal. Chowdhury, a resident of Choyampara, is still depressed. Nabashri went to collect her pass certificate after completing a nursing course at a private institution in Bangalore.
And on her way back, Nabashri, who was carrying her nursing certificate, boarded Yesvantpur-Howrah Express. Her train also met with an accident with Coromandel Express near Balasore. Her coach was derailed and overturned.
"Due to the heavy impact, the whole compartment was broken and twisted. After the derailment, my coach came to a screeching halt some distance away," Nabashri told ETV Bharat days after the accident.
Nabashri was supposed to arrive by flight from Bangalore, but after the flight ticket was cancelled, she had to book the Yesvantpur-Howrah Express ticket. She was returning home as her father prepared to receive her at the Howrah station. Nabashri was charging her mobile while sitting next to the window of his coach on the train when the accident took place.
Before she could understand anything, the coach overturned and flew some distance. Despite the pain of severe injury, she somehow pulled out the bag close and got out of the train compartment. With the help of local people, Nabashri came to Babughat via the express highway. Then she returned home."The train was already running four hours late. And because of that, I could understand that the train was running at a high speed. I was charging my mobile by the window. I could also see the red signal on the side but the train was moving so fast that before we could figure out anything, our coach overturned. The coach behind caught fire and fell apart. Screaming and shouting were heard all around," Nabashri said.
"When I came out, I still didn't know that such a big accident had happened. I thought maybe our train had met with an accident. Later, I heard that Coromandel Express and another freight train had met with an accident at the same place. The scene was so horrible that it pains to describe,” she added.
