A loud, deafening sound woke up several passengers from their sleep. It took some time for them to realise that some of the coaches had derailed.
Pangi Trinadh, a native of Koraput, and his relative Pangi Bangar, who were travelling in a sleeper coach, said they heard “a loud sound around 11.15 p.m. and later we came to know that the bogies had derailed.”
“While most of the passengers were asleep, a few of us were chatting. The train was in good speed and we heard a loud thud and thereafter the train started wobbling violently and there was a lot of dust,” says passenger Hargobind Maharana.
“Within a couple of seconds the train lost control and derailed. I lost my consciousness in the impact and when I regained my consciousness, my leg was under the water tank of the train that broke open from the ceiling of the train. Most of the passengers were critically wounded. The next bogie was on top of us. I somehow dragged myself out and the first help came about an hour later.”
Maharana, a daily wager, was on his way to Berhampur. He somehow managed to take out his cellphone and inform his family members. He is admitted to King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam with fractures.
Geetanjali Bhanjo, who suffered minor injuries, is still in shock. Tears rolling down her cheeks, she keeps asking about her 10-year-old son, who was travelling with her. Her son suffered serious injuries and is in the ICU of the King George Hospital.
The Railway authorities arranged buses to transport the injured and the stranded passengers from Kuneru. The injured were sent to hospitals at Rayagada, Parvathipuram and the KGH in Visakhapatnam.
‘Inspection was done’
“We have conducted speed trials and safety checks on this line. The General Manager’s inspection is scheduled for February 3. I have come to the Rayagada-Vizianagaram (RV) line 25 times in the recent past,” Divisional Railway Manager Chandralekha Mukherjee was heard telling a former Minister from Odisha.
