From the jaws of death: Odisha triple train tragedy survivors from Assam recount moments of horror

Hafizul and Samu were on board the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, one of the ill-fated trains which was involved in the 3-train accident in Balasore in Odisha

It was nothing less than returning from the jaws of death for Hafizul Islam and his friend Samu Ali from Kalaigaon in Assam’s Udalguri who were among the few lucky ones to survive one of the worst train accidents of India since Independence.

Hafizul and Samu were on board the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, one of the ill-fated trains which was involved in the 3-train accident in Balasore in Odisha on June 2 evening that left close to 300 dead and over 700 injured.

For few hours after the accident, Hafizul was not traceable. Rescue workers found his phone but could not locate him. His family was informed about this. Their hearts sank but they did not lose hope.
Now, Hafizul and Samu are back home.

Hafizul after reaching home gave narrated those horrifying moments.”I was looking at the phone. At 7:36 PM the train toppled. I did not know what happened. But after sometime I found myself lying on top of lifeless bodies. When I looked around, I felt very nervous.”

“There was chaos everywhere. Cries for help, cries of people in pain. After some time we were offered water by the locals. From there we took a bus to Howrah and after that we reached home. I lost my phones and my bag. There were bodies everywhere. Two of the bogies of our train was hit. We were also given first aid by the police when we reached Howrah. Luckily my friend had Rs 1000 with him. With that we managed to return. I am so happy now.”

“I was unconscious for nearly half an hour. He (Hafizul) called me and then I regained consciousness. There were bodies everywhere. We pulled out some of them. After that we both decided to return to Howrah to get back home,” Samu said.

Another survivor from Assam, Rupak Das is admitted at a hospital in Cuttack. Senior officials of the Assam Health Department have left for Odisha to check on Rupak and bring him back home.

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