When sea devoured entire train in this horrific mishap; read on to know where and how 

The deadly three-train pile-up at Bahanaga Bazaar station in Balasore has reminded people of another deadliest train accident in which the entire train plunged into sea and went down to Davy Jones’s Locker. It took place on December 22, 1964. 

The weather department had on December 15, 1964 predicted a cyclone in the south Andaman sea. As predicted, the weather condition became worse. By December 21, the weather condition changed from worse to worst. 

On December 22, the cyclone was moving from Sri Lanka towards India at a speed of 110 kmph. It hit Pamban Island in Taml Nadu and became more violent. After hitting the island, it started moving West-North-Westwards at a speed of 280 kmph. 

By 6pm, station master R Sundarraj had already left for his house after finishing his office work. 

The weather condition continued to be going more and more violent. 

On the other hand, a passenger train (653100) carrying passengers onboard had left Pamban station and was moving towards its destination-Dhanushkodi station. Unbeknownst to what fate had in store for them, the passengers were gossiping with each other, enjoying their journey. It had left Pamban station at around 9 pm. On the way, they found gusty wind and torrential rains lashing outside.  

There were only a few minutes left for the train to reach Dhanushkodi station. At 11.55 pm, the cyclone had intensified. 

Finding some trouble with the signal system, the loco pilot had to stop the train a few kilometers away from the station. It was when he didn’t get signal even after a long wait; he decided to resume the journey. He didn’t know then that it would be going to be the worst decision of his lifetime. 

The train was slowly moving on the tracks laid out along the Pamban bridge. Below it, the sea was rough.  As the train was moving on the bridge, the speed of the wind picked up and the sea was very rough. By then, the seawater was flowing on the tracks blurring the difference between the tracks and the sea. The train couldn’t withstand the force of the sea waves accompanied by gusty wind. The next moment, all six coaches of the train were washed away by the sea’s rogue waves. The entire train was literally devoured by the sea. 

In the mishap, 105 people including railway staff and passengers had their watery graves.