There was blood everywhere, saw men without limbs: Coromandel Express passenger recounts horror

PTI, New Delhi, Jun 3, 2023 :  There was the sound of screeching brakes and then a loud crashing of metal, recalls Anubhav Das, a passenger of the Coromandel Express that rammed into a goods train in Odisha’s Balasore.

Though he came out of the accident unhurt, the screams of help of those stuck in derailed mangled coaches still ring in his ears.

“It was a horrific sight. There were people injured, some crawling from under the train’s debris,” he posted on Twitter. Later, he said, he came to know that not just his train but another express train was involved in the accident.

Initially, in a series of tweets, Das described how he thought the accident unfolded.

Later, speaking with PTI, Das recalled in shock how he stepped out of his coach unaware that he had survived an accident involving three trains.

At least 288 people were killed and more than 1,100 injured in the accident.

“I was at the very end of my train. At around 6:30pm, we heard a very long thud and then jerks which seemed like the emergency brakes. At that moment, we realised some accident had occurred and we had to deboard from the coach to be safe. So when we were about to disembark from our coach and opened the doors, we saw that there were three other coaches that had derailed opposite our train on the other line,” he said.

“We realised that was the Yesvantpur-Howrah Express… those were the three last coaches of the Yesvantpur Express which were general coaches and had about 250-300 people in them. We saw bloodied people…. We gave them water and bedsheets from our coaches…,” he said.

Das, a PhD scholar, was on the Coromandel Express on his way back home to Cuttack from a field trip when he witnessed the most horrific sight of his life. He survived as he was in the last AC coach of the train, Number H1, and helped the injured people and called the police and railway helplines.

He said that the emergency services took an hour to reach the site but as they took over, they took good care of those in need.

“When the ambulances came, they were going away from us. This track was on a road intersection so that was a good part. The ambulances were going away from us to the front of the Coromandel Express. So to find out why the ambulances were going ahead, we walked there to figure out what had happened,” he said.

It is then that he realised that the train had hit a stationary goods train.

“There were scenes of extreme chaos. Blood was everywhere, on the tracks on the ground. People were all bloodied and some were walking out without arms. Bodies were lying everywhere,” he said.

Das also pointed out that the mangled coaches had piled on top of the other at a height comparable to that of a “three-four storey building.” In a series of tweets, Das had earlier described how lucky he thought he was to escape unhurt.

“Three trains were involved in the accident — Coromandel Express 12841, Yesvantpur-Howrah SF and a goods train. Initial impressions are that the Coromandel Express derailed and collided with the goods train (parked on the loop track on the side),” he had tweeted earlier.

“Not to exaggerate but I have myself witnessed more than 200-250 deaths. Families crushed away, limbless bodies and a bloodbath on the train tracks. It was a sight that I will never forget. God help the families. My condolences,” he said in another tweet.