The Hindu : Shock, tears and agony

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 22, 2002

National

National

Shock, tears and agony

By Our Staff Reporter

KURNOOL DEC. 21. Moving scenes were witnessed at the Kacheguda accident site with women and children wailing for their lost ones.

A three-year-old girl touched many hearts with her cries for her mother, believed to have been injured or killed in the accident. A woman took the child into her custody and tried to identify her parents among the dead and the injured but with no success.

The girl, who was in a state of shock, looked pale due to dehydration and could not utter her parents' names or her own. When presspersons brought the girl's predicament to the notice of the Collector, G. Sai Prasad, he immediately arranged for her treatment and deputed two revenue staff members to take care of her.

Susheela, a passenger from Bangalore, travelling by the S-14 coach, was shocked by the sudden turn of events. Her husband, Sajjan Raju, was trapped inside while she escaped with minor injuries. Recalling the tragic end of her husband, she said he wished her last by taking her into his hand. There was no way she could rescue him. She was forcibly removed from the coach by the rescue teams. Raju's body could be removed only after an agonising wait for nine hours.

Devadas of Kurnool city, who was travelling by the general coach along with his wife, Beesamma, sister, Mannemma, was found missing immediately after the accident. The body could not be located till 9 a.m. Till that time the two women searched every inch of the mangled coach. Rescue officials tried to console them by saying that he could have been among the injured who were shifted to hospital. However, the women's suspicions came true when the body was finally traced. The family was proceeding to Gooty to participate in a congregation.

Another passenger, Aanjaneyulu, sustained a severe head injury and fell unconscious for 15 minutes. It was a miraculous escape for him as the entire roof around him had dented except where he stood. Many around him were trapped in the metal frames and died.

The swiftness with which the railway rescue team rendered relief to the victims won appreciation. Within hours of the accident, the relief team from Guntakal shifted all the injured to hospital and despatched the stranded passengers by a special train to their destination. The railway officials hoped that the track would be restored by 10 p.m. on Saturday.

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