'Loud thud... everything went in all directions': Odisha train crash survivors recount tales of horror

Survivors of the Odisha train crash have recounted tales of horror, describing how they were thrown from their seats and saw bodies strewn across the tracks.

The train, the Coromandel Express, was travelling from Howrah to Chennai when it derailed near Khatapada station in Odisha on June 2, 2023.

The accident occurred when the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express collided with the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train. The collision resulted in the derailment of all three trains, and at least 233 people were killed and over 900 were injured.

The passengers who were returning home after several months of working in south India were among the injured. 

Mizan Ul Haq, a resident of Bardhaman, was in one of the coaches at the rear of the train when the accident happened. He was returning home after working in south India for several months.

"The train was running at a high speed. Around 7 pm, a loud sound was heard and everything started moving in all directions and I fell down on the floor from the upper berth as the lights went off inside the compartment," PTI quoted Haq, who was returning home from work in Karnataka on a holiday as saying.

He claimed to have escaped from the damaged coach and made it to safety.

"It was ghastly, many people with grave injuries were lying around beside mangled coaches," Haq, who was lucky to have escaped with minor injuries, told PTI at Howrah station, where medical aid, food and other assistance were provided by the railway authorities to the surviving passengers.

The unaffected 17 coaches of the 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express arrived in Howrah at 1 p.m. on Saturday with 635 passengers, 40 to 50 of whom were given medical attention upon arrival, according to North Howrah Deputy Commissioner of Police Anupam Singh.

He stated that five of them were sent to the hospital for additional treatment, while the rest were sent on their way.

Rekha, a Bengaluru resident visiting Kolkata, stated that she was in a coach ahead of the derailed wagons.

"It was total chaos initially. We got off our compartment out of fear and sat in the nearby fields in the darkness till our train finally started for Howrah in the wee hours," she said.

Another Bardhaman resident, a carpenter who works in Bengaluru, said he was injured in the chest, feet and head when the coach in which he was travelling turned turtle.

"We had to break open the windows and jump out of the compartment to save ourselves," he said, adding he saw many dead bodies after the accident.

Imtajul Khan, a resident of Murshidabad, said he saw many people dying in front of his eyes.

"It was shocking, I don't think I will ever be able to overcome the effect of this dreadful incident," he said, as he headed for his destination after receiving treatment at Howrah station at a medical camp set up by the railways.

Also Read: ‘Families crushed away, limbless bodies’: Coromandel accident survivor narrates horrific details