Thousands more flee on panic trains

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The exodus of people from the North-East continued on Thursday as over 10,000 more flocked to the city railway station to catch trains to their hometowns even as law minister Suresh Kumar camped at the station for several hours, met hundreds of them personally and tried hard to convince them that they were safe in the city and should not flee.

Such was the fear among them that thousands preferred to find safety in numbers by gathering at the railway station hours before their trains arrived rather than stay in their homes in the city. Several people also took flights out of Bengaluru rather than travel by train, fearing danger enroute. At around 5 pm, when the announcement of trains to Guwahati was made, the crowds rushed to Platform 4, although the first of two special trains was scheduled to arrive only three hours later, prompting Railway Protection Force personnel to troop in to ensure that there was no stampede or violence.

Their sense of relief was palpable when the first special train arrived at 8 pm as a loud applause and whistling filled the station. What followed, though, was an unseemly sight. In the rush to “board the first train out of the city”, children, young girls and women were elbowed and pushed around as hundreds clogged around the doors while others proceeded to break open even the train’s emergency exit windows. Some threw in their luggage, some threw in even young children, many young students also jumped in.

As the train departed at around 8.15 pm, those who managed to get on it smiled and waved to the thousands who were left behind on the platform, to wait for the next train at 10 pm. A third train —the thrice-a-week Bengaluru-Guwahati train — was scheduled to leave at 11.30 pm.