'Nightmare': Survivors of India's train crash find it hard to come to terms with reality

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) - After a major train crash in eastern India's Odisha state, which killed and injured hundreds, survivors are still finding it tough to come to terms with the reality.

It is not easy for 27-year-old Mohammed Firdaus from West Bengal to recount the horror he went through last week.

“I was traveling from Kharagpur to Chennai for work. I was sitting with my fellow passengers in the coach when we heard a loud sound like a thud. After that, all I could see were only people running and crying,” he told Anadolu over the phone.

“There was complete chaos in the train. Many people fell on their fellow passengers. I somehow managed to get out of my coach. There was noise everywhere. We had no idea what exactly had happened,” he said.

"Everyone was searching for their dear and near ones. I probably won't want to remember that time,” he added.

Kasmuddin Ansari, 61, was on his way from Shalimar station in West Bengal state to Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh. His daughter and son-in-law live in Rajahmundry, and he was traveling to see them. He considered himself lucky.

“It was dark all around, and nothing was visible outside. In my coach, I believe only 5-6 people survived; the rest either died or were seriously injured. I saw many people falling over each other," he told Anadolu.

He said he had never imagined such an accident could occur.

Ansari's home is in Howrah, West Bengal. He was in the sleeper coach when he got a strong shock and fell from his upper berth.

According to Indian railways, one of the trains -- the high-speed Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express -- met with the accident, and the other passenger train and freight trains came under its impact.

The Coromandel Express was running at 128 kilometers (80 miles) per hour when it rammed into the freight train loaded with iron ore that was stopped at the station, and the express passenger train took the entire impact.

The rear two coaches of the other passenger train, the Howrah Superfast Express, which was passing at the same time on another railway line, were also affected by the derailed Coromandel Express.

Gopal Hebram, a 20-year-old man, was traveling from Shalimar station to Chennai in Tamil Nadu, but he is still untraceable. His friend Mohammed Saddham searched every hospital but was unable to find him.

Gopal Hebram along with his brother Rahit Hebram was going to Kerala for work.

Mohammed Saddham told Anadolu that they were all working in a plywood factory in Kerala.

Rahit is admitted to a hospital, but we couldn’t find Gopal,” Saddham said, adding that “I have searched almost every hospital but couldn’t find him. We went to almost every location where authorities told us he could be found, but we so far failed to trace him."

Satyajeet Ghosh, 27, was on his way from Shalimar to Chennai. He was traveling alone for work in the IT sector.

Describing the situation is difficult for him, he told Anadolu, adding that “he can't even imagine how he survived."

“The train coaches had climbed on each other, and the situation was such that no one was able to help anyone. It was completely dark outside. I saw the severed hands and feet of many people. This accident was of a very massive scale, which cannot be described in words. I’ll need some time to get out of the shock of this accident,” he said.

The crash on Friday evening in Balasore, Odisha, involving two passenger trains and a freight train, killed at least 275 people and injured over 1,000 others in what is considered the country's worst rail disaster in recent history.

A preliminary investigation into the accident suggested that an issue related to the signaling system was likely the cause of the three-train crash, the country's Railway Ministry said on Sunday.

India has one of the world's largest railway networks. It is considered the country’s lifeline as every day over 24 million passengers use it to travel from one location to another. It is also considered the safest and most reliable means of transport in India.