Horrific, frightening, victims recount brush with death

Rayagada (Odisha), January 22 

Survivors of the Hirakhand Express mishap today recounted their horrific experience when the trains nine bogies and the engine jumped off the track near Kuneru in Andhra Pradesh.

“It was horrific and frightening. I was among the lucky ones to have escaped narrowly after the mishap that struck late last night,” said Ranjan Mohanty, a Baripada college Principal. Mohanty, who was returning in the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express train after attending the wedding ceremony of a relative, said he was sleeping and woke up with a sudden jerk and deafening sound to find himself on the floor.

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While the derailment claimed at least 41 lives, the passengers, Mohanty said, travelling in his coach escaped with minor injuries and fractures.

However, the adjacent S-9 coach was perhaps one of the worst affected, Mohanty said, adding he was among the survivors who were sent by a special train to Bhubaneswar via Sambalpur from where he would proceed to Baripada. Similar was the experience of Prakash Sahu, a youth who failed to figure out as to what exactly had happened when a loud bang woke him up from deep sleep and he was flung from the berth. Sahu said he along with some fellow passengers managed to move out of the coach with much difficulty and to comprehend what had happened. “We are lucky enough to be alive though our belongings, mobile phones and other articles were lost,” he said. — PTI