Man exchanges coaches, gets life

GAISAL, AUG 4: A change of coach for another passenger8217;s convenience became an exchange of life with death. Thirty-four-year-old Anil Kumar Shukla of Vaishali district had willingly conceded a request for swapping coaches with another passenger soon after boarding the ill-fated Awadh-Assam Express. He lives today to tell his story.

He agreed to shift to S-2 from S-1 after a passenger came up with the request so that he could be with his relatives. The passenger and his relatives died in the accident. S-1 was reduced to a mangled mass of metal under the impact of the accident. S-1 was next to the engine while S-2 was three compartments away. Anil Kumar survived with minor injuries.