MUMBAI: A 46-year-old Malad resident survived aboard a stranded local train for 18 hours before being reunited with his family on Wednesday morning. A Jain by faith, he only had tea on Tuesday morning as he is observing the holy period of paryushan.
Amarkant Jain (46), an IT consultant, left his residence on 7.45 a.m. on Tuesday, after having had his meal at 6 p.m. on Monday, to deliver a lecture at V.N. Bedekar College in Thane. He caught a train home at around 12.50 p.m., which reached Kurla before getting stuck in waterlogged tracks.
“The water was knee-deep and our train was caught between a boundary wall and another train. We peeped out of the door and saw a long line of trains snaking up, with our train being the last. The panic started increasing as time passed, and the water levels came up to waist-height,” Mr. Jain recounted.
Mr. Jain and other occupants called out to the residents of the building beyond the wall, asking them if there was any point in jumping over the wall. They responded that the highway beyond the building was waterlogged, after which the commuters decided to stay in the train and wait for help.
Meanwhile, back home, Mr. Jain’s wife Mayura was getting worried, while trying not to let her children, aged 12 and 4, panic. “Both my parents and my mother-in-law are heart patients, and I knew that I could not let them panic. Amarkant was in touch but not frequently as he had switched off his cell phone to preserve battery. When there was no word on help reaching him till midnight, I sent out a series of tweets, tagging relevant official handles, and also called friends who stay in the area,” she said.
Finally, some time after midnight, she got in touch with Deputy Commissioner of Police Samadhan Pawar, Mumbai Railway Police, who assured her that he was aware of her husband’s location and that everything was being done to rescue him and others.
“The problem was that ours was the last of the six trains stranded. The police were working throughout the night, evacuating passengers from one train after another. Meanwhile, we were getting uncomfortable in the absence of food, water, and toilet facilities. It was even more difficult for women and senior citizens. Some of us took it upon ourselves to keep the morale going, as we knew that panic would only make matters worse,” said Mr. Jain.
Finally, at around 7.00 a.m., the police reached the location, but beyond the boundary wall, while talking to Mr. Jain on the phone. By this time, the water had come down to ankle-level, and with the police constantly on the phone with him, he jumped off the train. He walked to Sion station, where the cops met him. He then took an autorickshaw to his residence in Malad and reached home at 7:45 a.m., 24 hours after he had left.
“The police were really supportive and understanding. A lady at the control room even spoke to my mother-in-law to calm her down. Mr. Pawar called me up after Amarkant reached home, just to make sure he had,” said Ms. Jain.
