Anxiety was palpable on the faces of relatives and friends of persons on board the ill-fated Bangalore City-Nanded Express, which met with an accident near Sri Sathyasai Prashanti Nilayam in Ananthpur district of Andhra Pradesh, when they arrived at Victoria Hospital in Bangalore where the bodies were expected to brought for DNA tests and identification.
Though South Western Railways announced that the bodies will be brought by 1 p.m., the arrival was delayed. The inferno in the AC 3-Tier coach B-1 had claimed a total of 26 lives.
Dr Shaheen and her husband Dr Imran, residents of BTM layout in Bangalore, were shocked at the turn of events. The doctor couple was the first to reach the Victoria Hospital’s mortuary. Till Friday evening, Shaheen's younger sister Dr Asra (31) was with them. She along with her two year old son Mohammed and Asra's brother in law Ibrahim (25) had boarded the ill-fated bogie at Yeshwanthpur Railway Station in Bangalore to head home in Raichur.
"Asra was here to meet Dr Shaheen. We are shocked and we cannot believe that the bogie in which she was travelling caught fire," Dr Imran said. They were constantly on phone with Asra's family including her husband Dr Ethesham Rahi, who had reached Anantpur in search of the three.
Similarly, the family of 43-year-old Prathap Binay, employed with Cement Corporation of India in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh also arrived at the mortuary looking for information. Binay, who hails from Patna in Bihar, had taken the train after visiting his in laws living at Bellandur in Bangalore.
According to his father in law Omprakash, a retired Superintending Engineer with Jharkhand government, Binay had visited Tirupati during his week-long-stay here. Binay's wife and two kids - a daughter studying in tenth standard and a son studying in eighth standard are in Ranga reddy district. "We went to drop him at the Bangalore City railway station last evening and saw him off from platform no 8. We are looking for him. "
Friends of Rahul Pathange (25), an employee of Oracle in Marathahalli, also travelling in the same compartment, took came to the morgue looking for him. Rahul, a resident of BTM layout in Bangalore, was on his way home in Raichur.
Meanwhile, a few relatives of the train mishap victims also turned up at Bangalore City Railway station on Saturday morning looking for information. The Railway officials manning the help desk were asking anxious callers to contact the help desk set up at Sathyasai Prashanti Nilayam in Ananthpur district for information.
The relatives expressed their frustration over the lack of information at the Help Desk. Krishna, a relative of Srinivas and Srilatha, who had boarded the train on Friday evening, said the officials manning the Help Desk at Sathyasai Prashanti Nilayam were directing the callers to the Help Desk in Bangalore and vice versa. “These help desk are of no help”, Mr Krishna said.
Similiarly, Nishanth S, who had coming to trace the whereabouts of his uncle and aunt, who were on the train, said no information was made available to him. The Railway officials are stating that their senior officials were at the accident spot.
Published - December 28, 2013 04:25 pm IST
