A total of 311 passengers of North East Express, which derailed near Raghunathpur station in Bihar’s Buxar on Wednesday night, reached Kamakhya station on Friday by a special relief train. At least four people died and several others were injured when several coaches of the train, during its 33-hour-long journey from Delhi’s Anand Vihar station to Kamakhya in Guwahati, derailed.
A college student, Hitesh was part of a 14-member group of youngsters from his home town Sualkuchi, about 30 km from Guwahati, who had gone on a pilgrimage to Kedarnath temple. “We feel it was due to the blessings of Kedarnath that we survived the accident. Our coach skidded off the tracks but did not fall sideways, because of which we were not injured perhaps. “A woman and her daughter from Tinsukia (in Assam) were killed in the coach behind us. We had seen the lifeless body of the child,” Hitesh said while narrating the horrors of the ill-fated night. Choudhury said the accident was preceded by a loud sound and the coach screeching to a sudden halt.
“Ours was the third coach from the engine. We heard a loud sound and then, the train came to a standstill. Luckily, our coach did not derail,” the resident of Rajasthan, who was travelling to Jorhat on his second trip to Assam, said. Choudhury and his two friends, all on a business trip, remained unharmed as they held tightly to their seats after hearing the sound. “Those who were sleeping or standing in our coach fell in different directions under the impact of the train coming to a halt. We have to thank our stars for not suffering any injuries,” he added.
The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) had arranged for their onward journey to Jorhat by train and they are happy to have reached their destination safely. A total of 1,006 people travelled in the relief train, and passengers disembarked at their respective stations along the way, NFR chief public relations officer Sabyasachi De said.
