A Railway Collision
Our life is full of accidents. Some men are drowned, others are run over by cars. But of all the accidents, a railway collision is most fearful.
I happened to sea a railway collision with my own eyes. Last year I was going to Lucknow. I caught the Express Train that leaves Gorakhpur at 6.30 p.m. At first I took my seat in a second class compartment close to the engine. I came to know that the train would start after minutes. So to purchase a newspaper I got down.
With the paper in my hand I walked towards the guard’s compartment to see if any friend of mine was also travelling by the same train. When I reached near the guard’s compartment, the guard blew his whistle and the train was in motion. Hurriedly I got into the hindmost second class compartment. The train gathered motion and reached Khalilabad. I was busy with my paper.
The train now moved towards Basti. It had to cross the down passenger at Munderwa. The passenger was standing on the first line. By mistake the points-man took the Express also on the same line. The Express was in full motion for it did not halt at that station. The driver saw the mistake. He tried to slow down the speed. The driver of the passenger train also wanted to drive the train back but he bacame nervous. So the two engines fought like two monsters. The drivers jumped off.
Some carriages of both the trains were broken to pieces. Many people lost their lives. The workers of a local sugar mill rushed to the spot and took out the dead and wounded
bodies. Within an hour the whole platform was covered with dead bodies. Ambulance cars from Gorakhpur and Basti arrived and carried away the wounded persons to hospitals. Thank God, I felt only a jerk and a rumbling sound in my compartment. I thanked God for this mercy on me. Another special train took us to Lucknow. I cannot forget the scene of death and disaster that I saw that day.
