Surviving train mishap, callous administration

IIT student, who was injured in the Kalka Mail derailment, denied seat by railway authorities in AC coach of train to Delhi as he was travelling in sleeper class during the accident

Surviving train mishap, callous administration

IIT student, who was injured in the Kalka Mail derailment, denied seat by railway authorities in AC coach of train to Delhi as he was travelling in sleeper class during the accident

Amit Agarwal (20) is one of the lucky few who survived the train accident at Malwa, Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. But he is more shaken by his encounter with an apathetic administration. A third year student of IIT Delhi, Amit suffered blows to his head and some minor injuries to his body. He reached Delhi from Kanpur in the wee hours yesterday.

MiD DAY found him lying on the bed at a relative's place, his head heavily bandaged. Recalling the incident, he said: "Suddenly there was a huge jerk. For some 10-20 seconds, everything in my coach S-2 (sleeper class) was moving forward rapidly. When I got up I saw there was an opening in the roof and people in my coach who survived the derailment were trying to escape through the gap."

Tight squeeze
Amit said he still recollects the incident with horror. "After I came out of the train, I realised many people were trapped inside different coaches. Along with other survivors who had managed to free themselves I too started helping other passengers. We tried to break open the window panes with the help of rods and stones."
"Suddenly I realised blood was oozing out from my forehead and when I looked for help, I could find no one. I had to use my handkerchief to try and stop the bleeding. Only the surviving passengers and some locals were participating in the rescue at first. Government agencies arrived much later. Though I was provided first aid after some time, in situations like this authorities should be proactive and it is very sad that railways is still incapable of performing rescue operations systematically and with urgency," he said.

He added that after he reached Kanpur railway station, he was denied permission to travel in a Delhi-bound train on account that he had a sleeper class ticket while travelling in Kalka Mail. "When I reached Kanpur station, Lucknow Shatabdi was leaving for Delhi shortly. I asked a train ticket examiner if I could go to Delhi by that train, but he said that it was not for him to decide. Then I went to the railway official who was responsible for granting passes to injured passengers. I was denied a pass on the account that one can only travel in Lucknow Shatabdi if he or she possesses an AC class ticket," he said.

"I was really saddened by this. How can they discriminate between injured passengers on the basis of what class ticket they hold? I had to wait for another three hours for a special train by which I arrived in Delhi," he added.

Another passenger from the S-2 coach, Saumen Das, also survived the incident with some minor injuries on his upper body and one leg. Saumen was coming to Delhi to undertake an entrance examination for College of Arts.
The moment
u00a0"I was going to wash my face in the lavatory when I was thrown forward towards the S-1 coach as there was a huge jolt. Thankfully I didn't get any major injury. I could have even died. I instantly got out of the wrecked coach and went to help others. We were trying to bring out other passengers through the windows."

Like Amit, Saumen too was disgruntled with the first aid and rescue operations of the railway authorities. "Authorities should reach the spot quickly as urgency can save many lives in such cases. But as usual all the rescue operation initially was being performed by locals and the passengers themselves."

"Also, at the train accident site we were told to get on a bus which would drop us off at Kanpur railway station. But only after covering a few kilometres, we were told to get off the bus. We were informed that after sometime any other bus would pick us up. Is this the way to treat people involved in an accident of such magnitude?" he asked.

How can railway authorities discriminate among injured passengers on the basis of what kind of ticket they hold?
- Amit Agarwal, survivor of Kalka Mail derailment

Toll rises
The toll in the accident has gone up to 69. 23 of them are yet to be identified. The cause of the accident, which also left 249 injured, is still unclear. The dead include two Swedish nationals. "Bodies of 46 victims have been identified and arrangements are being currently made to put them in individual coffins so that these could be easily transported to their respective homes," Special Director General of Police Brij Lal said in Lucknow.
"As for the remaining 23, we are making every possible effort to identify them, but the task seems difficult since most of these were passengers of the general compartment about whom even the railways do not have any records," he said. Six special teams of doctors were put on the job to carry out the post-mortem examination on each of the bodies. Of the 249 injured, 63 were discharged after basic treatment, while the remaining were showing signs of recovery in different hospitals at Fatehpur, Kanpur , Allahabad and Lucknow, he said. It took a good 24 hours for a joint operation by army and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to extricate bodies from piles of mangled metal and plastic. Military helicopters ferried the more seriously injured to hospitals to Lucknow and Allahabad.