Little knew Sukumar Banerjee what fate had scripted for him when he got a berth away from the rest of his family members in the Gyaneswari Express on his way to Rourkela. It meant life for him and death for the rest.
Banerjee, a resident of Krishnanagar in Nadia, was one of the few passengers on the cursed train who emerged unscathed from the accident.
“I have mixed feelings. I cannot stop thanking God for saving my life. But at the same time, I will leave this place a heartbroken man. I lost my two sister-in-laws, their husbands and their children. This is an irreparable loss,” said the man in his mid ’40’s.
The horror is his eyes was unmistakable. The very mention of the few moments that scarred his memory forever, evoked fresh pain. “I was the only one who did not get a berth with my family. I was on seat number 63, while the others were on seat numbers 33 to 36 on coach S-5.”
Unlike most in that coach, Banerjee was awake, even after 1 am.
The jerks gave him an uneasy feeling, he admitted. “All of a sudden, there was a very loud sound, a massive jerk that almost threw me off the top bunk where I was lying. Within a few seconds, lights went out and everything started tilting. I lost control and started slanting off my bunk. I held onto something which I could not see in the dark. Everyone was shouting,” recalled Banerjee.
In the pitch darkness, only a gaping hole in the wall of the compartment, enabled Banerjee to see how he was encircled with bodies — those of his co-passengers, who were peacefully sleeping a few moments ago. Shocked and panicked, he joined in the shouts that had resulted in a deafening noise — cries of pain, loss, death.
“I called out for my family members. No one responded. I was too grief-stricken to react. But something told me to carry on. I slid out of that hole in the wall only to see how a goods train had rammed into our train and how our train had got derailed.”
This braveheart later, not just overcame his personal sorrows but saved eight more lives to bring some relief to others.