Bangalore-Ernakulam express accident: Bidaragere villagers, the bravehearts

Vishnu, an injured passenger from D8 compartment was finding it difficult to believe that he was still alive. Speaking to this newspaper, he said that his seat was just at the site where the two bogies crashed, pointing his finger towards the crash spot where NDRF were cutting through to extricate trapped bodies. “I was thrown from my seat, my head hit the roof and then I fell on to the floor of the compartment and that saved me of my life, as I saw the place where I sat crashed entirely by the other bogie,” said Vishnu.

But my head was bleeding and I needed help. The impact of the collision had left the doors jammed. Before even the ambulance crew reached the spot, a villager whom I don’t know by name, helped me to come out and took me on his bike to a nearby hospital. I got first aid there and returned back to search for my belongings. I have lost all my educational certificates including my passport,” Vishnu told DC.

“It all happened within 3 minutes, the train came to a screeching halt with a loud crash. For the first 15 seconds, I could not realise what was happening. Then what I saw was the other compartment crashing into ours and our bogie stuck hitting the rear one. It seemed like the two crashes were closing in on us with huge smoke billowing all over amid human cries,” said G. Sethu Kumar, a software engineer, Seat No. 94, D8 Compartment who was on his way to Coimbatore for a business errand.

After the crash, many passengers in the D8 bogie remained trapped inside for a while as the closed doors near them were jammed and some of them were unable to move due to their injuries. It was then the villagers who came to their rescue and shifted the people who were movable from the spot to the hospital on their bikes. It was 40 minutes after the accident the first ambulance reached the spot, as there were only kaccha roads leading to the spot where the train derailed, said an officer from the rescue team.

Meanwhile, there are conflicting theories regarding the cause of derailment of Ernakulam-bound Intercity Express on Friday morning. While some said the train may have hit a boulder, others are of the view that the accident may have happened due to overspeeding.

Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu had in his tweet mentioned that train might have hit the huge boulder and derailed due to the impact.

However, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Railways R. P. Sharma said the train may have derailed due to over-speeding or due to technical snag in engine or track. Railway officials too disagreed with the boulder theory. Union Railway Minister has ordered a probe to ascertain the exact reason for the derailment of the train.

Account of some of the eye witnesses who nearly espaced death: