Kiran Kumar Patro, a former soldier of Indian Army, who regularly shuttles between Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam, was already getting impatient, as the train he boarded – Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger - was travelling at a snail’s pace.
“We were already 15 minutes late and after crossing Kantakapalli railway station, it came to a halt, apparently for not being given the green signal. Suddenly, there was a deafening sound and I flung away from my seat,” Patro said.
For a few minutes, Patro did not understand what had happened. When he came to senses, he saw the train bogey tilted towards a goods train on the adjacent rail track. “I immediately jumped out of the bogey and could only hear the loud shouts and cries from the adjacent bogeys. It was pitched darkness and I did not understand what exactly happened,” he said.
Fortunately for Patro, he was in the fourth bogey from the last. “All the three bogies derailed, flung in the air and got completely mangled. I recovered from shock within no time and started helping out others in rescuing passengers trapped in the last three bogeys. We could save as many as 15 people, including women and children,” he said.
Another passenger Ch Naresh from Paravatipuram, who was travelling by Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger, said he was browsing through messages on his mobile phone when his train rammed into another passenger train on the same track.
{{/usCountry}}Another passenger Ch Naresh from Paravatipuram, who was travelling by Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger, said he was browsing through messages on his mobile phone when his train rammed into another passenger train on the same track.
{{/usCountry}}“All I heard was a loud sound and I fell on my fellow passengers in the compartment. It was complete darkness inside and outside the compartment and I did not understand what had happened to the train,” Naresh recalled.
He said he came out of the bogie with the help of his mobile torch and noticed a couple of bogies had fallen on the train engine. “All of us got panicky and rushed to a nearby place for safety,” he said.
Speaking to the local television channels, Visakhapatnam-Rayagada railway guard Dillishwar said he had a miraculous escape with minor injuries as he jumped out of the train within minutes of the collision. “I was in the second compartment behind the engine when the accident took place. I fell down from my seat due to the collision and suffered bruises. I recovered from the shock immediately and jumped out of the train,” he said.
After some time, Dillishwar picked up courage and took part in the rescue operations. “With the help of the first aid box in the guard room, I provided treatment to some people,” he said.
Eyewitnesses told local reporters that many of the deceased in the ill-fated passenger train were common people and daily wage workers, who regularly travel by passenger trains because it is the cheaper mode of transport.
One of the victims – Gidijala Lakshmi (43) from B Sigadam village, who was the first person to be identified among the deceased on Sunday night, was travelling in Visakhapatnam-Palasa train along with 15 others. “While 14 of her relatives got their seats in the third compartment to the engine, only Lakshmi got the seat in the first compartment, which got completely crushed,” one of her relatives, requesting anonymity, told the reporters.
So was the case with Karanam Akkala Nayudu (35), a daily wage labourer from Kapusambham village of Vizianagaram, who used to travel to Visakhapatnam regularly to do manual labour. He was returning to his native place after his daily job when the accident took place. He died on the spot. His fellow-worker Penumajji Gouri Naidu of the same village, is battling for life in the Vizianagaram hospital.