 | | A distraught Ajay Thakur, the father of four-year-old Archita who died in the blaze, at the accident site. In the background is the AC coach that caught fire and in which his daughter died. Pictures by Gautam Dey |
Nov. 22: No words can be as searing as children screaming "mummy, mummy", engulfed by fire and smoke. No shock can be as numbing as a mother's realisation that her child, no more than four years old, was not with her when she was swept out by a stampede. Two young mothers, several passengers and many others will be battling these demons for the rest of their lives as they try to come to terms with the Doon Express fire in which seven persons were killed around 2.30am on Tuesday. The mothers — Anu Devi Thakur and Shabnam Ali — screamed for help to save their two daughters — Archita, 4, and Jubi, 8 — who were trapped inside an AC three-tier coach of the Howrah-Dehradun Express, popularly known as the Doon Express. The children could not be saved and their names figured on the casualty list that included a 26-year-old dentist, Anumita Singh, and an Australian woman identified as S.K. Alanna, 22. Usha Nagor, a 56-year-old lady from Patuli in Calcutta, also died. Anu, a 30-year-old homemaker who hails from Ranchi but lives in Asansol, and her daughter Archita were on their way to Lucknow to attend the wedding of Anu's niece. Her husband Ajay Thakur, the Asansol unit manager of an insurance company, was supposed to join them later as he could not get leave. Around 2.30am, when the train was nearing Parasnath in Jharkhand's Giridih, 55km from Dhanbad, a noise jolted Anu out of sleep in Coach B1, she recalled today. Anu saw thick smoke all around and, feeling suffocated, stood up and headed towards the door when she realised that Archita, who was sleeping beside her, had not yet woken up. Anu tried to rush back but it was too late and she was caught in the crush of people trying to escape the smoke. "Main bahar aayi aur tab mujhe pata laga ki meri beti andar reh gayi.… woh andar choot gayi (I came out and then realised that my daughter was still inside... she had been left behind)," Anu, still in a state of shock, told The Telegraph.  | | Shabnam Ali, whose daughter Jubi, 8, died in the fire |
A relative said in Asansol that according to information he had gathered over the phone, Anu was in the toilet when the fire broke out and was swept out before she could reach the child. "She opened the toilet door and saw people rushing out of the train. She desperately tried to enter the compartment to reach her daughter, but she was caught in the rush of people trying to get out," said Jaiprakash Narain Mishra, the husband of Ajay's sister. Injured in the stampede, Anu was admitted to a hospital in Gomoh, less than 18km from the site, and later left for hometown Ranchi. A passenger said he recalled Anu screaming for help. "She was crying, 'Koi to bacha lo meri Archita ko(someone please save my daughter Archita)'," the passenger said. Moved by her plight, Suraj Sao, who lives in the nearby Rosnakunda village, where the train stopped after passengers pulled the chain, tried to enter coach B1. "We tried to go inside but could not because of the thick smoke and fire," Sao said. "Archita was their only child. She had started going to nursery class in a local school. Who would know that such a tragedy would occur?" Mishra said. PTI quoted Minati, a passenger who lives in Raiganj in North Dinajpur, as saying she heard children cry "Mummy, Mummy". "I cannot erase the cries. There was fire in one part of the coach. I heard the children cry 'Mummy! Mummy!' Their mothers also ran around crying for help. It will haunt me throughout my life," a sobbing Minati said after arriving at Howrah station with 11 other injured passengers. The child who died was Jubi, daughter of Shabnam, 28, from Malda. If professional responsibilities kept Ajay away from his daughter when disaster struck, the distribution of tickets ensured that Jubi's father Akram, a 31-year-old armyman, was in the adjoining B2 coach, which also caught fire. The couple had boarded the train at Howrah with their two daughters. While the two children and their mother were allotted berths 31 and 32 in B1, Akram managed a berth in B2. The family was bound for Haridwar, from where they were to make their way to Raiwala, where Akram was posted. "As soon as I saw thick smoke, I realised there was a fire and moved to the next coach to first rescue my younger daughter, who is five," said Akram. He took her to coach A1, as Shabnam followed. However, when Akram tried to rush back to Jubi, the flames had engulfed B1 and other passengers, fearing for his life, prevented him from plunging headlong into the coach. "I rushed to bring back my elder daughter but I couldn't, and now I have lost her for ever," Akram said and broke down. "I still can't forget the face of the lady (Shabnam) who was wailing," D.D. Tripathi, a B1 passenger and a scientist with the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), said in Dhanbad this afternoon. "I was adjusting the bed roll and getting ready to sleep when a woman from the middle of the compartment rushed towards the door shouting that someone save her daughter from the fire," said Tripathi, who added that he woke up some passengers who were unaware of the fire. Anumita, the dentist, was on her way to Dehra Dun with her husband, Neeraj Gour, as he had received an offer from a hospital there. Neeraj, who specialises in community medicine, worked at a medical college in Bengal. Anumita hails from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh while her husband's family lives in Gwalior. | Short-circuit, fault in AC | | SANJAY MANDAL | | Calcutta, Nov. 22: An electrical short circuit from a defective heater and fault in the air conditioning system were the prime suspects in today's tragedy on the Howrah-Dehradun Doon Express that claimed seven lives. "A forensic examination will reveal the exact cause of fire but the commonest causes of such disasters are electrical short circuits or fault in the AC plants," a senior railway ministry official said. The railways have ordered dual probes, one by the commissioner of railway safety, eastern zone and another by the state forensic experts from Ranchi to find out the exact cause. Railway officials said passengers complained that someone had switched off the air conditioning of B1 — the AC three tier coach where the fire started — and switched on the heater when the train started from Gomoh at 2.15 am. The passengers alleged that they had complained to the ticket examiner but in vain. "We were feeling suffocated but returned to our berths," said one of the passengers. Railway officials said R.K. Paul, a permanent way inspector of East Central Railway's Dhanbad division, a junior engineer who supervises maintenance of tracks, had first spotted the smoke on B1 coach. "He had alerted the engineering control of Dhanbad who in turn called the driver and guards on their walkie talkies and asked them to stop the train. The panicked passengers had also pulled the chain," said an official. The driver B.D. Singh and his assistant A. Ansari, both based at Gomoh, and guard I.A. Khan whose headquarters is at Gaya, then rushed to the burning coaches and detached them from the other bogies, thus preventing a bigger disaster, officials said. "Both coaches were completely gutted within 10 minutes," said the official. "The way two coaches have been gutted, has made it almost impossible for us to zero in on a particular reason. That's why the forensic team had been summoned," said an official of Dhanbad division. "We have been asked not to touch anything," he said. They said the most plausible causes of such devastating fires were faulty AC plants or short circuits in the electric system. "The AC plants in these coaches are placed in the belly of the trains adjacent to the front toilet. If there is a spark in AC plant, then it can spread through the duct," he said. Another cause of fire can be short circuit. "The train was running at a speed of around 90 kilometres per hour. At that speed, a fire can spread very rapidly," said another official. The officials also did not rule out the presence of some highly inflammable chemicals inside the coaches which acted as catalysts and spread the fire so rapidly. Australian among 7 killed in Indian train fire Updated November 23, 2011 14:17:32 Seven people, including one Australian woman, died when a fire swept through an overnight train in eastern India early on Tuesday, officials said. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has confirmed three Australians were injured in the fire, and says another is missing. In a statement, DFAT said the three Australian survivors were all from Tasmania and said it held "grave concerns" for the missing woman. It said Australian officials were heading to the scene of the fire to find out more details about the woman's fate. The train was travelling from the eastern city of Kolkata to the northern town of Dehradun when it caught fire in the state of Jharkhand. The four Australians were female researchers who were travelling to the Buddhist holy city of Bodh Gaya. Railway officials say those killed were travelling in one of the train's air-conditioned carriages. Railway spokesman Anil Saxena says the driver took immediate action to isolate the fire. "Immediately these two affected coaches were detached from the train," he said. Police said the cause of the blaze, in which one four-year-old girl also died, was not known. Police say it is too early to determine the cause of the blaze. An electrical fault is among the possibilities, but foul play has not been ruled out in an area which has been struggling with a Maoist insurgency. The three injured Australians were being treated for burns in hospital, rail divisional manager Sudhir Kumar said. DFAT says it is providing consular assistance to the victims' families in Australia. Accidents are frequent on the state-owned Indian railways, still the main form of long-distance travel despite fierce competition from private airlines. The network operates 9,000 passenger trains carrying some 18.5 million passengers every day. ABC/AFP Gwalior doc critical, wife killed in train fire Suchandana Gupta, TNN | Nov 23, 2011, 03.59AM IST BHOPAL: They were separated soon after marriage as husband Dr Neeraj Singh Gaur (30) moved to Kolkata to join a new job. His dentist wife, Dr Anumita Singh Gaur (25), stayed behind in Gwalior with the in-laws.
Two years later, the doctor couple was extremely happy as they got recruited by a hospital in Dehradun. This meant they would finally be together. On Monday night, they boarded the AC coach of the Doon Express from Howrah.
But a few hours later, Neeraj and Anumita were separated again - this time by the cruel hand of destiny.
Anumita was charred to death after the AC coach of the train caught fire and Neeraj remains in a critical condition fighting for his life. Their dream of togetherness turned to ashes.
Dr Neeraj Singh Gaur, post-graduate in medicine from the Gajraraja Medical College, Gwalior was married to Dr Anumita in 2009. His new job in a hospital in Kolkata separated the couple within a few days of their marriage. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/Gwalior-doc-critical-wife-killed-in-train-fire/articleshow/10836546.cms
Children crying 'mummy-mummy' haunts passenger on Jharkhand train Published: Tuesday, Nov 22, 2011, 21:28 IST
Place: Howrah | Agency: PTI A hapless mother's cry for help will forever haunt Minati Sarkar, a passenger in the ill-fated B-1 coach of the Doon Express that caught fire along with another coach, leaving seven passengers dead. "I cannot erase the cries. There was fire in one part of the coach. I heard the children cry mummy! mummy! Their mother also ran around crying for help. It will haunt me throughout my life," a sobbing Minati said after arriving at the Howrah station with 11 other injured passengers. A resident of Raiganj in West Bengal's North Dinajpur district, Minati was travelling to Rishikesh with her husband Parimal, brother Dulal Mishra and sister-in-law Nupur. "It was around 2:45 am and we were sleeping when I was woken by someone shouting. I thought dacoits had raided our coach. Then I heard a woman shouting that the coach had caught fire," she said. The 59-year-old housewife, who suffered injuries in the chin, said she was hurt while jumping out of the train. "It was pitch dark. I blindly jumped out of the door and landed on a dry drain beside the tracks. We stood helplessly as we saw the flames engulfing the two coaches." Minati said the passengers had to wait for four hours in the middle of a jungle before help arrived. "The Railways should have responded faster. Our biggest difficulty was to let our families know that an accident had occurred and we were safe," she said. Asked whether she would be willing to undertake a train journey in future, she said, "I pray to God that I may never have to travel by train again." Trains collide in Orissa, nine injured Zeenews Bureau
Jharsuguda: A day after seven people were charred to death in a fire mishap in Howrah-Dehradun Express, two trains collided near Jharsuguda railway station in Orissa in the wee hours on Wednesday.
As per reports, the Samaleshwari Express collided with a fast approaching goods train leaving one passenger critically wounded and nine others seriously injured
The collision severely damaged eight bogies of the Samaleshwari Express, which were scattered on the railway tracks.
Relief and rescue teams have been rushed to site of the accident and top railway officials are already taking stock of the situation there.
At this stage, it is being said that the driver of the passenger train jumped the signal, which led to a collision between the passenger train and the goods train.
Further details are awaited. Eyewitnesses recall night onboard the burning train SHIV SAHAY SINGH The HinduMs. Namita, the survived llfated passengers of AC compartment was consoled by her relatives during her arrival at the Howrah Station on Tuesday. Seven passengers, including an Australian woman, were charred to death when a fire broke out in two AC coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun Express in the district early today. Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury/ November 22, 2011. Scarred by her experience aboard the Howrah-Dehra Dun Doon Express, two coaches of which caught fire in the early hours of Tuesday, 57-year-old Minoti Sarkar, was horrified at the prospect of ever boarding a train again. "Oh! not again," she exclaimed. Ms. Sarkar, who along with three family members, was going for a vacation to Haridwar, jumped off the air-conditioned B1 coach, smashing her chin and sustaining injuries in lower limbs. But more than her injuries, she was stunned by what she had to face during the journey. "I heard voices of kids in the compartment shouting maa, maa [mother, mother]. Two young men tried to save the kids but they could not…There was another man crying for help," she toldThe Hinduwhile being administered first aid at the Howrah station in the afternoon, shortly after the train carrying 11 injured passengers arrived nearly 14 hours after the AC coaches of the Howrah-Dehra Dun Express turned into an inferno. Ms. Sarkar, a resident of Raiganj in the State's North Dinajpur district, was woken by loud shouts and screams. "Initially I thought it was dacoits, but then we heard screams of fire and a thick smoke engulfed the entire compartment. I could not understand which way to go," she said. She said she and her family waited for four hours at the accident site before they could board the next train to reach the nearby Gomoh station. "A woman was in flames in front of my eyes. I tried to save her," Chedi Shaw, another survivor said, showing his scorched fingers. "The passengers we treated have simple injuries but are suffering from psychological shock and mental agony," said Dr. A.K. Saha, Chief Health Director of Howrah, who attended on the injured at the station. Sunil Ranka and his wife Lakhi Ranka, residents of Contai in State's East Midnapore district, lost all their belongings. "We were in the B1 coach. When the fire occurred, we ran to B2 and then to B3 then we jumped off the train," said Mr. Ranka who managed to reach the Howrah station with his wife on their own at 11.30 in the morning. Amid all this, there were some who were desperately searching for or awaiting news of their relatives and acquaintances late into the evening. Keywords: Train fire, Howrah-Dehradun Express, Doon Express fire http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2651008.ece Dinesh Trivedi does not rule out role of 'miscreants'K. BALCHAND Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Tuesday did not rule out the possibility of involvement of anti-social elements behind the cause of fire in the Howrah-Dehra Dun Doon Express in the small hours of the day that charred seven people to death. Mr. Trivedi told journalists that one passenger saw a man boarding the train — carrying a bag that emitted a foul smell and smoke — and leaving it in the air-conditioned coach. The fire broke out only after that between Nimiaghat and Parasnath stations on the Gomo-Gaya section of Dhanbad division in Jharkhand. He said officials would now try to locate the passenger to ascertain about the miscreant and what caused the fire. Asked if the cause of the fire was due to poor maintenance, Mr. Trivedi said some passengers, discomfited by the AC, had demanded from the attendants to switch the heater on. It was suspected that in this process there was a short-circuit which led to a fire that destroyed two AC three-tier coaches. Mr. Trivedi said he would wait for the inquiry report and not speculate on the cause of fire. He said a thorough inquiry had been ordered by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Eastern Circle, and expressed the confidence that the probe would pinpoint the actual cause of the fire. Condoling the deaths, Mr. Trivedi said the Railways would pay an ex gratia of Rs.5 lakh to the bereaved families and Rs.25,000 to the injured passengers of the two affected coaches. This includes compensation for their belongings lost in the fire. There were 128 passengers in the two coaches that caught fire. While only one incident of fire was reported last year, three incidents had been reported so far this year, reversing the declining trend. No one died in fire-related incidents last year. India | Updated Nov 22, 2011 at 11:07pm IST Doon Exp fire: A journey ends in tragedy for many Giridih: Seven people were killed when a fire broke out on the Howrah-Dehradun Doon Express early Tuesday morning in Jharkhand destroying two bogies of the train - B1 and B2. A journey to see his family ended in tragedy for Vijay Thakur. Thakur's 5-year-old daughter lost her life in the fire that broke out on Doon Express early Tuesday. Vijay's last memories were of her laughing and playing before she went to bed. He's haunted by the fact that he was unable to rescue her in time. "I have seen my daughter's dead body with my own eyes," said Vijay Thakur. It was at 2 am that the fire broke out in the B1 AC coach of Doon Express. In panic, passengers rushed into the adjoining B2 coach, but the fire spread rapidly. Seven people died, with some of them charred beyond recognition, making identification even more difficult. "The people were confused whether there was a fire or not. There was a lot of smoke and people were sleeping at that time," said a passenger. A blast in a gas cylinder of one of the coaches is believed to have triggered the fire. Passengers say the damage could have been lessened had the railways and fire officials reacted faster. "Time and again we asked the railway officials to disconnect coach B2 from B1. B1 was initially on fire, B2 could have been saved," said another passenger. An inquiry has now been ordered, but with a spate of rail accidents like these in the past few months, how seriously really is the safety of passengers being taken by the Railways? (Watch CNN-IBN live on your iPad. IBN7 and IBN Lokmat too. Download the IBNLive for iPad app. It's free. Click here to download now) tragedy for Vijay Thakur. ...
Zee News - Nov 21, 2011 There were a total of 128 passengers in the two coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun Express when the fire broke out. Railway has set up a helpline for relatives of the passengers. The helpline numbers are 033-26413660, 033-26402243 and 032-62220518. Doon ...
indiablooms - 19 hours ago Ranchi, Nov 22 (IBNS): At least seven people, including two children, were charred to death and several, including four Australians, were injured when two coaches of the Doon Express caught fire in the wee hours of Tuesday near Giridih district in ...
NDTV - Nov 21, 2011 Giridih, Jharkhand: Seven people, including children, were killed today after two coaches of the Doon Express caught fire in the wee hours near Giridih district in Jharkhand. The fire broke out around 3 am in the AC 3-tier coach B1 and later spread to...
Newsbullet - 17 hours ago Ranchi: At least seven people were charred to death when two AC coaches of the Howrah-Doon Express train caught fire in the wee hours on Tuesday in Giridih district of Jharkhand. "Seven people were killed in the incident," Anil Saxena, PRO, ...
Deccan Herald - 8 hours ago Seven train travellers, including an Australian woman and two children, were charred to death when two air-conditioned coaches of the Dehradun-bound Doon Express caught fire in Jharkahand's Giridih district early Tuesday. The 72 passengers were asleep ...
indiablooms - Nov 21, 2011 Ranchi, Nov 22 (IBNS): At least seven people were killed when two coaches of the Doon Express caught fire in the wee hours of Tuesday near Giridih district in Jharkhand. The fire broke out at around 2:30 am in the AC three tier coach B1 and soon ...
Indian Express - 5 hours ago Despite the Railways' claim of having introduced fire-retardant material in almost all its passenger coaches, three minutes were all it took for the two AC-III coaches of the 13009 Howrah-Dehradun Doon Express to get gutted in Jharkhand early this ...
NetIndian - 12 hours ago UNI PHOTO At least seven persons, including a five-year-old girl, were killed when two air-conditioned coaches of the Howarah-Dehradun Doon Express train caught fire near Parasnath in Giridih district of Jharkhand in the early hours of today. ...
Moneycontrol.com - Nov 21, 2011 The train is currently stationed at the Giridih district of Jharkhand which is four hours from Ranchi. The Railway managers and medical teams were on the site. Eight trains have been held up from Gaya and Dhanbad. Howrah - Doon Express fire : Death ...
Times of India - 5 hours ago New Delhi: Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi on Tuesday did not rule out sabotage in the fire that broke out in Howrah-DehradunDoon Express near Giridih in Jharkhand, killing seven people, including two children. "...I am not speculating anything. ...
Times of India - 19 hours ago PTI | Nov 22, 2011, 07.49AM IST GIRIDIH (JHARKHAND): At least one person was feared dead after fire broke out in an AC coach of Howrah-Dehradun Express in Giridih district in the wee hours on Tuesday, senior officials of East Central Railway said. ...
Times of India - Nov 21, 2011 NEW DELHI: Two air-conditioned bogies of Howrah-Doon Express on Tuesday morning caught fire near Parasnath in Girdih in Jharkhand. According to Times Now the fire was due to a short circuit. The train was going from Howrah to Dehradun when it caugh ...
Times of India - 10 hours ago RANCHI: The Dehradun-bound Doon Express fire was the second such accident which happened in the state. On October 26, 1994, a similar early morning tragedy had struck the 8001 Mumbai-Howrah Mail in which 27 people had been charred to death when its ...
Calcutta Telegraph - 6 hours ago 22: An electrical short circuit from a defective heater and fault in the air conditioning system were the prime suspects in today's tragedy on the Howrah-Dehradun Doon Express that claimed seven lives. "A forensic examination will reveal the exact ...
Press Information Bureau (press release) - 20 hours ago In Jharkhand, 7 persons died in a fire incident involving 13009 Howrah-Dehradun Doon Express between Nimiya Ghat and Parashnath stations in Giridih district under Dhanbad Railway Division of East Central Railway at about 02.35 hours on 22/11/2011. ...
Hindustan Times - 12 hours ago PTI A forensic investigation will be conducted into cause of the fire which broke out in two coaches of the Dehradun-boundDoon Express near Gomoh in Jharkhand on Tuesday, that left seven passengers charred to death. A Jharkhand state forensic team ...
IBNLive.com - 1 hour ago New Delhi: A passenger travelling from Kolkata to Lucknow has gone missing ater the Howrah-Dehradunexpress caught fire on Tuesday. The family of 46-year-old Kusum Singh has been unable to get in touch with her but her name also doesn't feature in the ...
UPI.com - 49 minutes ago 22 (UPI) -- Fire broke out in two cars of an express train in India as it traveled through northern Jharkhand state, killing seven passengers, the Railway Ministry said. The Doon Express train from Calcutta was traveling to Jharkhand state Tuesday when ...
Daily Pioneer - 8 hours ago Seven passengers including two children were charred to death when two A/C coaches B1 and B2 of the 13009 UP Howrah-Dehradun Express caught fire at Rosanakunda between Nimiyaghat and Parasnath railway stations here in Giridih district of Jharkhand ...
IBNLive.com - 18 hours ago Giridih (Jharkhand): Seven passengers, including an Australian woman, were charred to death when a fire broke out in two AC coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun Express in the district early on Tuesday, with the Railway Minister stating that involvement of ...
The Hindu - 7 hours ago Seven people, including two children and an Australian woman, were burnt to death and over 50 injured when the Howrah-Dehra Dun Doon Express caught fire as the train was running through Jharkhand's Giridih district in the early hours of Tuesday. ...
The Hindu - 7 hours ago Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Tuesday did not rule out the possibility of involvement of anti-social elements behind the cause of fire in the Howrah-Dehra Dun Doon Express in the small hours of the day that charred seven people to death. ...
IBNLive.com - 13 hours ago PTI | 08:11 PM,Nov 22,2011 Giridih (Jharkhand), Nov 22 (PTI) An Australian woman and two children were among seven passengers charred to death after a fire broke out in two AC coaches of the Dehradun-bound Doon Express in the district early today with ...
BBC News - Nov 21, 2011 Two coaches of the Doon Express train travelling to Dehradoon from Howrah caught fire early on Monday. The cause of the fire is still not clear. One of the dead was an Australian woman travelling to carry out research at the Buddhist holy city of Bodh ...
Economic Times - 21 hours ago GIRIDIH: Seven passengers, including two children, were charred to death and four Australians injured when two coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun Express caught fire in Jharkhand's Giridih district in the wee hours today. The fire, which broke out at...
Indian Express - 5 hours ago Seven passengers, including an Australian woman and two five-year-old girls, were burnt alive and at least 12 received injuries as two AC coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun Express caught fire around 2.30 am today as it was passing through Giridih district ... |
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