NEW DELHI: It was a night the nine athletes who survived the train mishap at Ferozabad will not forget for a Jong time, while four of them are still undergoing treatment at Safdarjung Hospital here, the five who sustained minor injuries were discharged.
One of the thieves, recalled, “I woke up when I received a sharp electric shock, to find myself on the floor. Our bogey had gotten off the track and it was precariously to one side, everyone had fallen from their berths and was screaming.”
Fifty-two athletes were coming back to Delhi after attending a month-long camp, 20 of them died on the spot.
Too numb to feel even grief, one of the five girls who were discharged from Safdarjung Hospital says, “We have known each other for so many. years. All 20 of those athletes who were in coach S1, have died.”
It was a day full of fun and laughter, recounts 15yearold Rajdeep, “All day we had been singing songs, cracking jokes and playing curds. We were so happy because we were finally going back home,” she sobbed
The grief and the horror that they feel, overshadows the pain. “IF it hadn’t been for Ashok Bhaiya, we would never have been saved,” says Rajdeep. She cannot recall the exact events because she lost her consciousness when the two trains collided. “I Just remember Ashok Bhaiya calling out to us. He broke the window and that is how we came out.”
Apparently it was the people from the villages nearby who were the first to reach the spot. According to them, the villagers were initially stupefied by the sight and just stood there. “It was only 15 minutes later that they: were galvanized into action,” says Harjeet, While some of them helped to rescue the trapped passengers, others ran and got cols to transport the injured. Ranbir Singh Sidhu, a coach, was also injured, His wife, who rushed to the spot, expressed great dissatisfaction with the attitude of the Delhi administration, “The staff at Safdarjung Hospital is so rude, it is unbelievable. We were treated like animals.”
According to the athletes, neither treatment, nor food was given to the girls during the whole day.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 25, 1995
