Twin train accidents site at Harda turns into ‘tourist’ spot

The twin train accident spot in Harda, about 22 km from the district headquarters and three kms from the nearest railway station, Bhirangi, has become a kind of tourist spot.

Raghuvir Prasad along with few other villagers were asking the railway gateman Kishore Lal near the Bhirangi station how they could reach the twin train accident site, nearly three kms away.

Youngsters-click-photos-at-the-train-derailment-spot-in-Harda-district-Bidesh-Manna-HT-Photo

Many roads had become inapproachable due to water logging and incessant rains in Harda.

Prasad and his friends had come from Balagaon, over 30 kms away, to see the accident spot, which has been hogging the headlines for last few days.

Like Raghuvir Prasad hundreds of villagers from different parts of Harda are travelling to the accident spot to have a glimpse of the massive tragedy.

The twin train accident spot in Harda, about 22 km from the district headquarters and three kms from the nearest railway station, Bhirangi, has become a kind of tourist spot. Even a tea shop has come up in the vicinity.

Thirty-six year old Kailash Tabar who lives near Bhirangi Gate, has set up a temporary shop near the accident spot, selling tea, biscuits, cucumbers to the visitors and over 600 workers engaged in restoration work.

Four days after the twin train accident that killed over 35 people and disrupted train traffic, people are drawn to the site to view the spot that was so much in news.

“For last three days we have been reading so much about it in the newspapers and watching the developments on TV news channels, we became curious. Many people from our village had already gone to see the accident site. So we decided to go there and see what kind of a freaky accident it was”, said Lakhan Lal Gour, who had come from a village nearly 17 kms from the accident spot.

Sixty- two- year- old Gouri Shankar Pujari who had come from Sareli village, said he was curious to know how two trains coming from opposite directions on different tracks, met with an accident at the same spot. “It is a rare accident and I wanted to know why and how it happened”, he says.

Youngsters who are coming to see the accident site are taking photos on their mobile phones and sharing them on the social media.

On Friday, villagers two kilometres downstream the Machak river also spotted a washed away body of a girl. They took photos of the body, shared it on WhatsApp groups and social media and later also informed police about it.

“We live in Harda city. We heard so about this massive accident from our neighbours, who had come here. So I urged my father that we should also come here. My father agreed to accompany me and my friend Priyanka. Now after seeing the accident, I can understand how big this accident was. It makes me sad to see so many people died in the darkness of the night in such a way”, says Nisha Sharma from Harda’ Ghantaghar Chowk area, accompanied by her father Narendra Sharma.

The security personnel posted at the accident site are having a tough time to check the crowd of people that is turning up everyday. They also have to ensure that the luggage of the passengers left in some of the derailed coaches is not stolen by any visitor.