ROURKELA: Survivors of the ill-fated Howrah- LTT Jnaneswari Express recounted the horror at the mishap site and complained of poor relief management this evening. They poured out their heart when a special train carrying them halted at Rourkela station.
‘’I saw five passengers stuck in a mangled compartment helplessly succumbing in front of me,’’ said Kolkata-based unit manager of HDFC Suraj Agarwal.
Delay in arrival of rescue personnel cost several injured passengers their lives, he said. Suraj along with others rescued several trapped passengers.
Businessman Pradeep Jain of Rourkela, who escaped with internal minor injuries on board S-3 coach, said along with a deafening sound he was thrown out of his berth before he held on to the window rod. Jain said he felt nauseating amid frightening screams for help and scenes of trapped bodies.
Jaman B Kakkad of Bilaspur on board B-5 coach lashed out at the Railways claiming there was no security for the passengers with no sight of RPF personnel during or after the mishap. N Ahmed of Jharsuguda said he experienced a huge tremor while Kalandi Tripathy of Rourkela, locked inside the toilet, felt several violent jerks.
Monalisa Banik considered herself to be the luckiest person on earth to have escaped unhurt along with her two sons and husband. All survivors complained of poor relief operation claiming rescuers reached at least two and a half hours after the tragedy. Businessman Mohit Koushik of Kolkata said a CRPF unit with fear of another Maoist ambush writ large the jawans’ faces took considerable time to position themselves even as critically injured passengers either perished or wreathed in acute pain in the mangled compartments.
Raju Daga was found waiting at the Rourkela railway station worried about the well-being of his brother-inlaw Anil Bothra who he said was missing while his nephew Mahank (5) reached Kolkata with help of a woman.
Refuting the allegations, chief spokesperson of South Eastern Railway Soumitra Majumdar said relatives of the victims are being facilitated in all manners to identify the latter.