CUTTACK: A sharp jerk accompanied by a screeching sound took most of the passengers of LTT Mumbai-Bhubaneswar Express by surprise early Thursday morning. They passengers had just woken up and some were preparing to alight at the next station when they were shaken up by a jolt.
Five coaches of the bi-weekly superfast express derailed and three coaches displaced from track at about 6.45 am after it hit the rear guard van of a stationary goods train between Salagaon and Nergundi in Cuttack district due to dense fog.
The injured passengers, who were stuck in the coaches, had an harrowing time as rescue reached the spot nearly two hours after the incident. An injured passenger Duryodhan Nayak said “I was travelling from Mumbai along with my wife and one-and-half-year-old son in S7 coach. All three of us were injured in the mishap and I was bleeding for about two hours till the rescue team reached the spot and shifted us to hospital.”
Locals from nearby villages were rescuing the injured till the Railway Protection Force (RPF), local police and fire service personnel reached. With no suitable path available to approach the incident spot located at a height of more than 50 feet, the rescue team had a difficult time shifting the injured.
“There was no suitable path except a narrow way amidst the bushes at the spot where locals defecate. It was also impossible to use stretchers to shift the injured passengers through the narrow way. We had to carry the injured passengers on our shoulders to the ambulances standing below,” said RPF Inspector Prabin Kumar.
Over 2000 passengers were travelling in the train. After the mishap, around 60 per cent of the passengers left for their destinations by arranging vehicles from local areas while two buses were pressed into service to shift the stranded passengers to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
“As many as 30 injured passengers, including two children, were admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital. While one of them has already been discharged, the rest 29 passengers are undergoing treatment,” informed SCBMCH Emergency Officer Bhubananda Moharana.
Necessary medical examinations have been conducted and the injured kept under close observation, he added. Meanwhile, the district administration has directed SCBMCH authorities to provide free treatment to the injured train passengers.