Lucknow, June 1 (IANS) Passengers who escaped the derailment of the Doon Express at Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh arrived in the state capital here early Friday and recounted their ordeal and horror of the previous afternoon.
A special rescue train brought more than two dozen passengers from the mishap site in Jaunpur. Five coaches of the Doon Express derailed Thursday afternoon, killing six and injuring about 100 passengers.
Madhu Gupta, one of surviving passengers, recounted to the IANS her harrowing experience, and explained how the accident took place moments after the train had chugged out of the Jaunpur station.
Madhu, travelling in the S-6 coach with her family, said they had barely finished their lunch when all of a sudden the coach overturned and with a screeching sound was dragged over several metres.
“I lost consciousness thereafter and recovered my senses only when people were helping us out of the bogey,” she said.
On a trip to Dehradun from Varanasi to spend the summer holidays, the Guptas said they were lucky to survive the accident, but aired their anger at the railways’ slow relief operations.
Along with over two dozen passengers, the Gupta family was brought from the accident site to Varanasi by a special train and then sent to Lucknow on board the Shramjeevi Express.
Other survivors too recounted their horrifying experience.
Abhishek Gupta, a traveller to Dehradun, said that two of his co-passengers had perished in the mishap and that he was fortunate to be alive. Other passengers who were brought back to Lucknow said they were too shell-shocked to talk to the media and wanted to be left alone.
“I just thank god that I am alive,” muttered an elderly lady, who had her forehead bandaged.
