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Indore-Patna express train derailment: Survivors talk to WION

WION
Uttar Pradesh, IndiaWritten By: Shylaja VarmaUpdated: Nov 21, 2016, 10:11 AM IST
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Biswakarma escaped with minor injuries and a broken little finger. But sixteen hours after the accident, he isn't even sure if all his relatives have been rescued from the coaches. Photograph:(WION)

Amid mounds of suitcases and bags strewn at the train accident site at Pukhrayan in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, sits a young man on top of a suitcase, resting his head on his palms.

Pramod Biswakarma is getting married in 10 days. The 27-year-old groom-to-be, a resident of Ghazipur was travelling from Indore to Varanasi, along with 10 of his relatives. The wedding party boarded the train from Indore with heavy bags and luggage that only such large travelling groups could have in his wedding season in north India.

"My wedding is on December 1 and all of us were travelling to Varanasi for that," the groom told WION.

Biswakarma escaped with minor injuries and a broken little finger. But 16 hours after the accident, he isn't even sure if all his relatives have been rescued from the coaches.

He has lost cash worth Rs 30,000 and the fancy clothes he was carrying for the wedding.

Thirty-two-year-old Archana Sharma and her husband, part of the wedding group, have also escaped with minor injuries. Archana was fast asleep on the upper berth of the S2 coach, one of the worst affected and badly mangled coaches.

"I woke up when the train shook suddenly. Just as I lifted my head to check what was happening, the wall of the train fell, pushing me from the upper berth to the floor," she said.

Just as the woman began describing her ordeal, her angry husband pulled her away. Irritated with the media, he said, "We have no time to give interviews when we're looking for our relatives and have lost our luggage."

(WION)