In one of the worst train accidents that India has ever witnessed, nearly 270 people were confirmed to have died as of the morning of Saturday, June 3. While some survivors managed to escape relatively unhurt, over 900 people are estimated to have been injured. A few survivors who were able to speak to the media soon after the accident recalled the chaos, confusion and horror of being surrounded by the bodies of fellow passengers. A man who survived the accident said he managed to exit his bogie with great difficulty, and saw people lying around with dismembered limbs and disfigured faces.
“I was asleep when the train tilted over. I woke up and saw that nearly 10-15 people were on top of me. Though it was a reservation coach, it was more like a general coach (overcrowded). I suffered injuries to my hand and neck. When I made it out of the bogie, I saw people lying around whose body parts had been severed, and people with disfigured faces,” the survivor told ANI.
#WATCH | Balasore, Odisha: A passenger who was in one of the derailed trains tells about the moment when the horrific train accident took place leaving hundreds injured so far. pic.twitter.com/z9MWc0T5mA
— ANI (@ANI) June 2, 2023
On Friday, at around 7 pm, nearly 12 coaches of the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed near Balasore. According to initial information that was available, this happened after the Coromandel Express hit a goods train. Some of its derailed coaches fell on the adjacent tracks. After some time, another passenger train going from Bengaluru to Howrah crashed into the derailed coaches of Coromandel Express, leading to around three or four of its own coaches skidding off the track.
A woman named Vandana Kateda who was travelling on the Coromandel Express and survived the accident, told the media that she was walking out of the washroom when she realised that the train had suddenly tilted sideways. “I tried to hold on but wasn’t able to balance myself, it felt like I would fall. My footwear and bag went flying and got scattered. Everyone started falling over each other. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening. The entire bogie was tilted sideways. We managed to get out and reach the road, and we are leaving by road now,” she said.
Another survivor said, “Around 6.50 pm, I heard a noise near Bahanaga station. I realised the train had tilted over and then got to know that there was a train accident. As soon as the bogie stopped, I got out. I rescued three to four people who were with me.”
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited the spot of the accident on Saturday morning and told the media that a high-level committee was constituted to probe the accident.