Train carrying over 100 Odisha tragedy survivors arrives in Tamil Nadu

The Tamil Nadu government reported that all 119 people with Tamil names and addresses in the state were accounted for and safe, with no fatalities among them.

A special train carrying over 100 survivors from the Odisha train accident arrived at a designated platform of the Chennai railway station at 4.30 am on Sunday, officials close to the developments said.

Medical camps and ambulances were prepared at the station, and all 137 passengers underwent medical screening. (HT Photo)

“All passengers who arrived are safe. Seven of them have minor injuries,” said the Tamil Nadu health minister M Subramanian.

Medical camps and ambulances were prepared at the station, and all 137 passengers underwent medical screenings, an official said. Thirteen of them were sent to the Rajiv Gandhi government hospital for treatment, but by the afternoon, all had been discharged except for a truck driver named Dharani, the official added.

According to the official, Dharani was returning in the ill-fated Coromandel Express en route to Chennai after delivering an Ashok Leyland truck in Bangladesh.

“A lot of people had lost their hands and legs,” said Dharani. He was in the S1 coach which was badly impacted. “An ambulance came for us more than an hour later.”

One of the survivors, Pranav Vignesh, said it started with a loud noise. “I could feel the train move from the track. I was frightened,” the student said. “I didn’t get hurt, but I had to break open a glass window to get out of the train. My coach had fallen.”

A Border Security Force (BSF) officer, Kanagaraj, who was in the B3 coach, helped with the rescue operations. He was sent for an X-ray to check if he had broken his arm.

“I rescued 72 people in my bogey. I took the children out of the train first,” he said.

A native of Salem, Kanagaraj had boarded from Kolkata while on leave from duty.

“I don’t know what went wrong exactly but as army man I can say if everyone did their duty right, this would not have happened. The survivors collectively described it as a traumatic experience.

The Tamil Nadu government reported that all 119 people with Tamil names and addresses in the state were accounted for and safe, with no fatalities among them.

“No one from Tamil Nadu has lost their life,” the state government said in a statement. “But it has not been possible to contact eight people. The rescue team stationed in Odisha and the control room of the revenue and disaster management are working together to trace them.”

A family of three on the train returned from Bhubaneshwar to Chennai by flight. Passengers in the Coromandel Express were also patients taking the train to go to the Christian Medical College in Vellore, one of the officials said.

“There was a family from eastern India with a woman patient. We arranged with the district collector for their transport to Ranipet so they can reach on time for their treatment,” a second official said.

A woman, who is a native of Kerala said she had only seen accidents on televisions and when she experienced it herself, she was terrified.

“The bed sheets given to passengers were used to carry the injured and it turned red with blood; a dreadful scene,” she told reporters here.

The general compartment was overpacked well beyond its capacity, she said recalling what she said she saw.

Wearied by the tragedy and the long journey as well, a man said seeing blood, severed limbs and bodies of men and women lying scattered was tormenting.

Another passenger who was injured said: “I was asleep in compartment S-1. All of a sudden I heard a bang and before I could realise what happened I almost fainted after something like a rod hit the side of my rib cage.”

He was taken away in a wheelchair by healthcare workers to the Rajiv Gandhi Government Medical College Hospital.

The 137 passengers of the train accident in Odisha who arrived here by a special train from Bhadrak looked exhausted and the gory accident added to the agony. A survivor, Murugan said he and others could feel the bogey slanting rapidly and falling on one side and many people were injured severely.

Soon after the news of the accident, chief minister M K Stalin deputed a team of ministers to transport SS Sivasankar and sports Udhayanidhi Stalin and three IAS officers to Odhisha, who also returned early on Sunday.

“If we can trace the remaining eight people, we can confirm that nobody from Tamil Nadu is affected,” said Udhayanidhi. “This accident could have been averted. I hope the Union government takes action.”

The state observed a day of mourning on Saturday to honour the victims of the tragedy.