Fragile coaches, restricted space thwarted rescue ops

At around 2pm on Sunday afternoon, SK Patra, a jawan of the National Distaster Relief Force, sat slumped, resting on a stone slab.

- Debabrata Mohanty

For over 36 hours, through two straight blood-soaked nights, Patra worked feverishly, looking for a sliver of life among the dead; for a cry of pain that in his line of work, means a cry of someone alive. The 42-year-old has had a career spanning close to two decades, has gone multiple training programmes, and yet, very little prepared him for the aftermath of India’s worst train tragedies in last three decades on Friday.

A little before 7 pm on Friday, the Coromandel Express hurtled into a stationery goods train at Bahanaga Bazaaar in Odisha’s Balasore district, several bogies derailing which in turn hit two bogies of the passing Yesvantpur Howrah Express, in an accident that left 275 dead and 1,100 injured. For two days then, there has been frantic relief and rescue, with workers from multiple agencies converging onto Bahanaga Bazaar. Only on Sunday afternoon, did Director General of NDRF Atul Karwal say, “The rescue operation is more or less complete. I don’t think any other victim, alive or dead, will now be located from the wreckage which has been checked a few times. Our response was prompt and effective. A total of nine teams comprising around 300 rescuers are at the location right now.”