Anxious relatives and friends of passengers on the B1 coach of the Bangalore-Nanded Express that caught fire on Saturday morning, came to the Bangalore City Railway Station’s help desk for information on the plight of their near and dear ones.
Much to their disappointment, the help desks until afternoon, had no details or whereabouts about the passengers. While the Bangalore helpline numbers directed them to the Sathya Sai Prashanti Nilayam station, the officials manning the help desk at the SSP Nilayam station help desk, directed them back to the Bangalore help desk phone number.
What made matters worse was that most of the people receiving calls at the help desk were unfamiliar with Kannada, making it difficult for them to converse with the callers.
Relatives who were aimlessly pacing up and down in front of the help desk expressed their frustration over the lack of information. Krishna, a relative of Sreenivas and Sreelatha, who had boarded the train on Friday evening, said: “These help desks are of no help. They do not even have basic details,” Mr. Krishna, who called the helpline around noon said.
