Festivities turn into a nightmare

Manmeet Singh Gill in Amritsar

Jitendra had taken his wife Aarti and two-year-old son, Shivam, to watch the Dasehra celebrations when a speeding train cut short the revelry and ran into a huge number of onlookers who had gathered to watch the burning of Ravana’s effigy. 

Jitendra and his son are among the dead, while Aarti, unaware of the tragedy that has befallen her, has been admitted to a private hospital with a critical head injury. The family of three is alone in this dark hour. There’s no one to claim Jitendra and Shivam’s bodies or attend to Aarti. The family had migrated to Amritsar from Bhagalpur, Bihar, two years ago in search of a better life. Among the injured, the 62 critical patients are still admitted to various hospitals, while a similar number have been discharged after first aid. People had gathered there in festive spirits, with families and children in tow. They unwittingly chose the railway track as it offered a better vantage point, little realising this decision would cost many of them their lives. 

An evening meant for festivities had turned into a nightmare. Amid wails, people were moving from hospital to hospital all night to look for their dear ones missing after the mishap.

While this tragedy of unfathomable magnitude has left many with emotional scars, there are others who will bear permanent disabilities as their limbs have been cut. As there were a large number of people who sustained serious head injuries, the government hospitals fell short of neurosurgeons. They had to be called in from private hospitals. Even the mortuaries were overflowing with dead bodies. As a large number of bodies could have affected inside temperatures, the administration had to arrange for ice slabs to maintain the required temperature. The post-mortems had to be conducted immediately as the badly wounded bodies had already started to deteriorate. The rush of patients also exhausted the stocks of simple medicines like tetanus injections and Betadine solution used for washing wounds. The antibiotics, too, were out of stock. 

Good Samaritans to the rescue

Many social organisations were providing tea, snacks and meals to people outside hospitals and at the accident site, free of cost as they frantically looked for their dear ones till wee hours. Apart from blood donor societies, hundreds of individuals also turned up at blood banks after learning about the accident. Dr Neeraj Sharma, in charge blood bank, Government Medical College, said, “Over 600 persons came after hearing about the accident. Even those who had come to visit Golden Temple turned up to help.

“We needed blood from 220 persons only. Our stocks were almost full though many were not ready to leave without donating any blood.”