KOZHIKODE: Sunday’s supposed lone-wolf attack on passengers of the Alappuzha-Kannur executive express left eight persons injured. Of these, Anil Kumar, of Kadirur, who was admitted to the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) along with four others, continues to be in critical condition.
Anil was placed on ventilator support after he experienced severe respiratory distress. He was heading to Kannur with his wife Sajisha and son Adwaidh when they fell victim to the attempted arsonist — all three suffered burn injuries.
When they were moved to the MCH on Sunday, Anil was covered in cloth and Adwaidh had severe burn injuries on both arms. Recounting the terrifying experience, Sajisha, who was also injured, said, “We were travelling in the same coach where the accused started throwing petrol on the passengers.”
We couldn’t understand what was happening at first, but as the smell of the liquid spread, the fire was already set and we all blacked out for a moment. Somehow we managed to jump out of the train, but by that time most of the passengers had already suffered injuries. We heard loud noises, with people screaming and running from one compartment to the other. Even the person who poured the liquid was nowhere to be seen, she added.
Some passengers who tried to douse the fire ended up with burn injuries as they couldn’t get their hands on enough materials to put it out. The chain was first pulled from inside the D1 coach by Kannur-native Prince, who is the senior section engineer at Koyilandy railway station. He was travelling with his wife Aswathy to Koyilandy when the incident occurred. Aswathy is currently being treated at the burn ICU of the MCH. Prince and another passenger, 50-year-old Jyothindra Nath, underwent plastic surgery at a private hospital in Kozhikode, as, according to doctors, their injuries were serious.
As the commotion spread, more people in the train started to pull the chain and eventually the train came to a halt on Korapuzha Bridge, which made it difficult for the remaining passengers to disembark.
Ruby, who was returning from Kochi along with the alumni group of the Government College of Engineering Kannur, remembers telling her husband, Deepak Prakash, that the assailant was spraying the liquid on everyone in the compartment, and that he didn’t seem to have any specific target.