Victims recount tales of horror

On board the relief train to Rafigunj (Gaya): Travelling in the special train carrying relatives of passengers of the ill-fated Rajdhani Express, Jagannath Mukherjee could not believe his ears when he heard announcements over the public address system at Asansol station. It was about his son Nilanjan who was traveling to Delhi. "He is safe and has flown to Delhi.He has also spoken to his family," it was announced. A relieved Mukherjee got down at Asansol after hearing the news. But others were not so lucky. Yusuf Khan and his family were on their way to Ajmer Sharif. While his wife and two daughters, Shera and Rebecca were safe and on their way back to Kolkata in Singroli Howrah express, his aunt-in-law Bandel Mary and his seven year old son Anjhs could not survive the accident.Khan's daughter Nina was left behind in Kolkata. She boarded the special train which left Howrah at 12.35 pm on Tuesday. The family met at the Parsabad station and started their journey back to Kolkata. All those who survived narrated an experience of horror and disgust, as they claimed that there was no relief till 1 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon. "The first medical help arrived from Mughalsarai with elementary first aid at around 12.30 pm," said an injured Anup Sikdar who was traveling in the AS1 coach. According to the injured, all the rescue work was done by the villagers and the police remained a silent spectator. "It was the villagers who cut open the glass windows and helped us to come out," said Abhijit Mukherjee in coach AS5, which was still hanging from the bridge."We heard a terrific sound and then everything blacked out. When we regained consciousness, we were trapped in our coaches until villagers rescued us," said Raju Das from Baguihati. "We were planning to go to sleep when we heard two consecutive bangs. We hung ourselves to one side while the compartment kept hanging from the bridge," said Koushik Dutta in AS2, adding, "we were left under the open sky and left to fend for ourselves. There was no relief of any sort from anywhere."