Kanchanjunga Express tragedy: Survivors from Cachar narrate horrific experience

Silchar, June 18: The incident of a collision between Agartala to Sealdah bound Kanchanjungha Express and a goods train at a place near the New Jalpaiguri station has left many survivors traumatised.

On Tuesday morning, 63-year-old Kajal Dutta and Jyotirmoy Nath, 58, residents of Katigorah who are on the way back to Barak Valley, spoke to The Assam Tribune and recounted the horrific experience of Monday morning when they were jolted by the violent jerk from the rear end of the train.

“We boarded the S7 coach of the Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express from Badarpur station on our way to Kolkata. On Monday morning, the train was moving forward at a very sluggish pace and around 8: 40 am, we experienced a severe jolt, which left all of us inside the train shocked. A 74-year-old man who was travelling with us fell from the lower berth on which he was sleeping. When I tried to look outside, I could only see foggy images on the front part and at the back, a whole compartment, which was the luggage van, was upside down. Disfigured faces and screams all around. It was drizzling and the visuals were so disturbing for us to witness. I tried to extend helping hands to some, but the sights were way too disturbing. We tried our best to save the passengers stuck and struggling for life, but we were helpless. The incident will haunt me for the rest of my life,” said Jyotirmoy Nath, a teacher at the Baleshwar HS School in Katigorah constituency of Cachar district. He had embarked on the ill-fated train to attend a sports meet in Kolkata.

In the words of Kajal Dutta, a businessman from Katigorah, he had never expected to witness such horrific scenes in his life. The close shave with death has left him emotionally disturbed. “I thank the Almighty that we are saved. Owing to the jolt, passengers fell on each other and tried to save their lives. We are heading back to our homes, but the memories and images of the incident will haunt us for the rest of our lives,” Dutta mentioned.