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Burnt bogies testimony of tragedy
Published on Mon, Feb 19, 2007 at 13:13, Updated on Thu, Jun 21, 2007 at 05:16 in India section
Tags: Samjhauta Express, Train , Diwana
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Diwana (Haryana): Twelve hours after tragedy struck Atari Express, the Diwana railway station in Panipat bore the scars of the ghastly incident with charred bodies and mangled metal of the two burnt coaches scattered all around, bearing mute testimony to the death and destruction caused by the suspected terror blasts.
Bangles and footwear lying inside the coaches were among the very few items, which survived the fire resulting from the explosions.
It was close to midnight when passengers in two compartments woke up to the smell of smoke and fire. As they scrambled to ascertain the cause, the fire had by then fast engulfed the two bogies. Panic-stricken passengers started screaming and rushing to the exit points but leaping flames prevented them from escaping to safety.
"I fell down as all the passengers were in a hurry to run to safety to other bogies. In the process I injured my leg," Zubaida, who continued her journey to Karachi after the tragedy, said.
The death toll from the tragedy has touched 66 with at least 50 others injured. Eleven of the injured are said to be in critical condition. All of them are undergoing treatment at the ICU of Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi.
In one of the torched bogies, lay an overturned 'lota' (a small vessel used for prayers). Onlookers at the site said that villagers and the entire Panchayat rushed to the spot carrying buckets of water to douse the blaze. Fire brigade personnel and medical relief reached the spot after an hour, they said.
A passenger of the train, Aziz Ahmed, who is a resident of Delhi going to Rawalpindi, said at Ambala Cantt railway station that soon after the travelling passengers noticed the fire from the two coaches, they pulled the chain. He said two of his co-passengers jumped from the running train.
A woman travelling in the train recounted that there was a sudden ball of fire in the train as it moved in its normal speed with most of the passengers asleep.
Passengers gave two different versions — one about the blast followed by fire and the other that there was only fire which spread fast. An eyewitness said that a seven-year-old boy was pulled out of the burning bogie.
The identification of the dead, who included women, was difficult as the bodies were charred beyond recognition in the fire that followed the explosions, Panipat Superintendent of Police Mohinder Singh Sheoran said.
After detachment of the two burnt bogies, the remaining compartments of the train carrying around 500 passengers left for Atari after a thorough check by security personnel.
Forensic experts who collected samples from the train were of the view that low intensity explosives like sulphur or nitrate were used to trigger the blasts with kerosene-filled bottles acting as catalyst to spread the fire.
Security experts believe that the explosives could have been planted in Delhi as the train has a non-stop runup to Atari on the Indo-Pak border with a two-minute technical halt at Ludhiana where no one can get in or get out of the train.
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