Whoever could,jumped out of the moving train.

Now 25 and a mother of two,Rukhsana says its difficult to forget that journey five years ago.

Rukhsana was 20 when she boarded the Samjhauta Express at Old Delhi railway station on February 18,2007 with her mother and two elder brothers. They were going to meet her aunt in Pakistans Gujranwala city.

Now 25 and a mother of two,Rukhsana says its difficult to forget that journey five years ago. Since my father Abdul Sattars death nine years ago,we had never visited his sister who lives in Pakistan. That day,I boarded the train with my mother and brothers Iqbal and Zaheer, says Rukhsana.

At night,they noticed smoke in the train and heard cries of people. There were bodies all around when the train halted. We could see young and old lying on the ground,covered in blood. Many,who could manage,jumped off the moving train into the dense jungle on both sides. The cries did not stop for a long time. But since our coach was in the front,it wasnt damaged and we escaped unhurt, she says.

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Samjhauta halted at Panipat station for at least three hours,during which the damaged bogies were removed and rescue operations carried out. The rest of the passengers were then carried safely till Attari. When we reached Pakistan,our passports and visas were checked. A large number of Pakistani police officials,politicians and TV channels had gathered around the station, remembers Rukhsana.

The family returned to India a month later,on March 26. Rukhsana married a Meerut-based businessman a year later. As she rocks her daughter to sleep,Rukhsana says,It was just our fate that saved us that day. We were just a few coaches away from death.

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