"A heavy jerk followed a loud sound, I fell from my berth and everything went blank," that's a survivor of the Bikaner-Guwahati Express train accident, recounting the horror.
The Express train derailed in West Bengal's New Jalpaiguri district on Thursday, leading to the death of 9 people and injury of 45 passengers.
Twelve coaches of the train jumped the rails, and some of them overturned near Domohani.
The scenes at the accident site were distressing. A partially mangled coach got perched atop another under the impact, while a few bogies had hurtled down the slope and overturned.
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Survivors desperately looking for their near and dear ones who were travelling with them.
Hundreds of people from nearby villages gathered at the spot and lent a helping hand to passengers who had got trapped inside the collapsed coaches.
Some of the bogies had gotten detached from the rest of the train under the impact, while some wheels came off.
"It was around 5 pm; I was speaking to my wife over the phone. All of a sudden, I heard a loud sound and there was a heavy jerk. I was thrown away from my berth and went blank. Later, when I regained consciousness, I was being taken inside an ambulance," Sanjoy, a survivor, told a news channel.
"My mother and I were having tea, when all of a sudden there was a sound followed by a severe shock and luggage kept on upper berths tumbled all around. The locals later rescued me, but I am yet to locate my mother. I don't know what happened to her," said another injured person.
"We recovered three bodies from the accident site while two people died in the hospital," Jalpaiguri District Magistrate Moumita Godara Basu said, adding at least 45 passengers were injured in the accident.