Several orphaned, missing in accident

Two-and-a-half-year-old Shrishti was busy playing with her uncle’s cell phone knowing little that her parents were killed in the train accident.

Shrishti had a miraculous escape. She was travelling with her parents and uncle Monu Vishwarma in the S-1 coach which was one of the most affected.

“Their (Shrishti’s parents) bodies are still inside the coach...I do not know how Shrishti survived...may be because she was sleeping with me,” Monu, who sustained a fracture on his leg and injuries on his chest, told DH from his hospital bed.

Cries of the injured pierced the silence of the district hospital, where a majority were admitted. “We are doing whatever we can...we have limited facilities here,” said Dr Amar Chandra, one of the medical officers at the hospital. Dr Chandra said that the seriously injured people were being referred to the medical college hospital at Kanpur town, about 70 km from there.

Chaos prevailed at the overstretched hospital and many passengers were seen frantically looking for their missing family members and relatives. Sudha Dwivedi, a resident of Varanasi, had no idea if her septuagenarian mother was alive or not. “I do not know where she is... I cannot find her anywhere,” she told DH. The elderly woman, too, was travelling in the S-1 coach.

Pyare Lal from Indore survived with serious injuries, but lost his young daughter in the tragedy.