'Terrifying & chaotic': Odisha family survives deadly train mishap in Andhra, recounts horror

Sunday evening saw another train accident in Andhra Pradesh which resulted in 13 deaths so far while more than 50 have been injured. The trains involved in the mishap were the Visakhapatnam-Palasa Passenger train (08532), Visakhapatnam-Rayagada Passenger Special train (08504) and a goods train.

Though none from Odisha has reportedly died so far, many from the State have feared to have been injured in the mishap that occurred between Alamanda and Kantakapalle in Vizianagaram-Kottavalasa Railway Section of Waltair Division of East Coast Railway Zone.

Following the mishap, many passengers scrambled for safety. And among them was the family of Dilip Kumar Patro, who was returning home to Rayagada from Visakhapatnam last evening.

Narrating his harrowing experience to OTV, Patro said, “The train left Visakhapatnam at 6pm. And at around 7:10 pm the train was derailed. Everybody in the bogey started screaming for help. Children sitting on the top tier including my daughter fell down. It was utter chaos in the bogey. Everybody was running here and there. I somehow managed to get down from the bogey and took my family to the nearby Highway after walking for about one kilometre.”

“While getting down from the bogey, I saw a body lying below it. Though derailed, my bogey was largely unharmed. So that body might have come from another bogey which was badly mangled in the mishap,” Patro said.

"Thank God it was a Sunday and there were not many passengers on that train. Otherwise, there would have been a lot more casualties in the mishap,” he added.

His wife said, “At first, we were clueless. The accident jolted us up big time. It took us a while to get our bearings right. After realising that our train has met with an accident, we tried to collect our belongings and get down from the coach as soon as possible. After reaching the Highway, the rescue team brought us to Rayagada.”