NDRF was alerted by one of its own on Coromandel

Venkatesan was among the first responders. The 39-year-old jumped out and then turned around to rescue those trapped inside the coaches. He managed to pull out a few people and then decided to inform his senior who in turn alerted the NDRF brass.

He sent them photographs of what had happened and shared the location coordinates which helped the NDRF rescue team reach the accident site.

Venkatesan,who hails from Nayakkarpatti near Thanjavur, had sought a month’s leave around three months ago to attend a cousin’s wedding. He boarded the Coromandel Express from Shalimar Kolkata.

“I was on seat 68 of B-7 (coach)… I was busy checking my mobile phone when suddenly a co-passenger, who was lying on a berth, fell down. I heard a loud sound and thought it was a bomb blast. I came out of the coach and realised what had happened,” Venkatesan told The Sunday Express over phone.

“There was no light and I switched on my phone torch. I asked everyone to be patient and began evacuating them… the local residents helped me evacuate people,” he said.

He is now travelling in a special train and is headed home.

“After evacuating many passengers, I informed my Inspector about the incident and he coordinated with senior officers. I was asked to share some pictures from the spot and, after some time, they asked me to share the exact GPS location,” he said.

NDRF DIG Mohseen Shahedi said, “Venkatesan was the first to inform about the incident and due to that, senior officers in the headquarters swung into action immediately. The first NDRF team reached the site from its regional response centre in Balasore about an hour and a quarter after the accident that is said to have occurred around 7-7.10 pm Friday. The other NDRF teams were rushed from Mundali in Cuttack district and Kolkata.”

“So far, the agency has pulled out 45 people alive and retrieved 105 bodies from the mangled railway coaches in Balasore district,” he said.

Over 300 personnel of the NDRF, armed with big metal cutters, six canine squads and other heavylift equipment are working at the accident site.