TINSUKIA/GUWAHATI: When a young couple and their two eight-year-old twin daughters boarded the North East Express to travel back home for Durga Puja holidays in Assam's Tinsukia district, they had no idea that their trip would end in calamity and result in the deaths of half the family.
In the accident that took place in Buxar region of Bihar around 10 pm on Wednesday, one of the twins and her father Deepak Bhandari were unharmed, but her sibling Akriti and mother Usha Bhandari, 37, were not so lucky.
After making every effort to save money since their previous trip, the couple, who had previously worked in a Delhi hotel, had planned a Durga Puja vacation in Usha's paternal home at Sadiya in Tinsukia region.
The woman's neighbours in Sadiya subdivision's Chapakhowa claim that her elderly parents are inconsolable over the deaths.
One of the neighbours said, "The couple work in a hotel in Delhi and the family was coming home for vacation."
According to railways public relations officer Dipak Deka, the bodies of Usha and Akriti are being transported to their home in an ambulance.
Everything was planned by the railways, and a representative is also riding in the ambulance with them. We are monitoring the vehicle's progress, according to Deka.
The bereaved family is being accompanied by East Central Railway traveling ticket examiner Navin Kumar, who said they began their more than 1,450-kilometre journey at 1.45 pm on Thursday.
"We're riding in an SUV with Deepak and his survivor daughter. They are not physically hurt, but they are mentally destroyed," Kumar told PTI via phone while still in the ambulance.
Around 9.53 pm on Wednesday, 23 coaches of the train, which was traveling from Delhi's Anand Vihar station to Kamakhya in Assam, derailed close to Raghunathpur in Bihar's Buxar district, killing four of its passengers.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed his "deepest condolences" at the deaths of Usha Bhandari and her daughter in the accident.
The other two fatalities in the tragedy were Abu Zayed (27) from Purnia in Bihar and Narendra Kumar from Rajasthan, both of whom were 27.