‘Saw death so closely’: Bengal family recounts traumatic night, fortunate escape from Odisha train crash

Dola and her family were on the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, which was one of three trains – the others were the Cheinna-bound Coromandel Express and a goods train – involved in the accident that took place in Odisha’s Balasore on Friday night. The accident left at least 288 dead and more than 1,000 injured.

The bogies of the Bengaluru-Howrah train that were not damaged were on Saturday taken to Howrah, along with injured and stranded passengers, from Balasore.

Dola and her family were among those to reach Howrah on this train. When she got down at Howrah station, she broke down in tears, crying inconsolably.

As relief and rescue ended, work on restoration continued throughout Saturday night using lights through generators with work on track linking also being initiated. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

A native of Krishnanagar in West Bengal, she worked in the housekeeping department of a company in Bengaluru and her husband, Abu Sheikh, worked as a carpenter.

Sheikh said, “It was after one-and-a-half years that we decided to take a break from work and visit our home in Krishnanagar. My wife was putting my younger son, Salam Sheikh, to sleep and I was playing with the older son, Sakib Sheikh, when we heard a loud sound like a blast, and the train overturned. We fell on each other. Luckily, we both held our sons tightly. We got some injuries, and for a few seconds, we were not sure if we would all survive.”

The train they were travelling on derailed after running into scattered bogies of the Coromandel Express, which had crashed into a goods train minutes earlier.

The couple lost all the belongings they were carrying, including cash and mobile phones, in the accident.

“We climbed on the top of the train, holding each other, and then jumped off the other side with our kids one by one. It was after 20 minutes that rescue teams reached the spot. I saw death so closely that I don’t know if train journeys will ever be the same again for me,” said Dola.

They took shelter for some time at the house of a local resident in Balasore, where they were able to wipe their bleeding faces. However, they said they got first aid only after they reached Howrah on Saturday.

“I just want to go back to my hometown, sit with my two sons and cry loudly. It is so painful to see dead bodies laying all over and having to run away from the scene. I even saw a woman trying to pull her dead son out of the train,” said Dola.

According to officials, among the dead, a total of 31 people have been identified as being from West Bengal, and 25 people from the state have been admitted in hospitals in Odisha and 11 in West Bengal.