Balaghat train disaster: Human tragedy overshadows statistical measure

A corpse is dragged out of the river to join others on the bank, with the fateful bridge in the background: Grisly statisticsHistorically, it may merely be recorded as the biggest train disaster in history. By last week, however, as the death toll in the Balaghat disaster - in which seven of the nine overcrowded bogies of 416 Down plunged into the swollen waters of the Bagmati river - continued to mount relentlessly, the human tragedy that unfolded completely overshadowed any statistical measure.Statistics, for instance, would fail to record the anguished scream of a woman who collapsed in a heap when the bloated body of her husband was dragged to the river bank; the grisly sight of floating bodies, arms and legs locked in rigor mortis, being lassoed like logs and towed to the bank by rescue boats; the bizarre scene of bodies falling in slow motion from a coach as it was lifted by cranes and then cartwheeling down the river as the current caught them one by one, the hundreds of relatives lining the river banks waiting for-their family members to be extricated from watery graves by naval divers rushed belatedly to the scene.Like the bodies still unrecovered, the actual cause of the disaster is buried in political quicksand. The tragedy occurred at 4.10 p.m. on June 6 when 416 Down was crossing the bridge over the Bagmati river in Bihar. Railway officials claim that a sudden cyclonic storm hit the train and, because passengers had pulled down all the shutters, the seven rear bogies overbalanced and toppled into the river.Surviving passengers, however, claim that the bogies derailed and plunged into the Bagmati after the driver slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a cow on the tracks. In fact, the driver and firemen fled the scene after the accident and gave themselves up to railway authorities only two days later. Whatever the truth, it was obvious that railway authorities were more concerned with creating alibis than mounting an immediate all-out rescue operation.Varying Accounts: Railway Minister Kedar Nath Pande, already up to his neck in scalding water for a spate of railway accidents in recent months, calmly flubbed his phrases by describing the accident as a "God-sent tragedy".A bogie lies half-submerged in water near the ruined bridge (above) and (below) a young woman collapses as she tries to identify her husband's body: Measureless human tragedyIn sharp contrast, Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra somewhat salvaged his sagging reputation by his herculean efforts to speed up the rescue efforts. The actual operations shifted into high gear only after the arrival of naval chief "Ronny" Pereira and General Officer Commanding, Central Command, Lt Gen Pinto and senior government officials who flew in from New Delhi.As the waterlogged bodies were fished out one by one, official estimates regarding the death toll varied from 800 to 2,000. It was impossible to assess the number of passengers, since the train including four large marriage parties was packed like a sardine tin. Some reports say that hundreds of passengers were travelling perched on the roof or on the footboards.By last week, more than 200 bodies had been recovered and all the seven bogies had been traced. One of the bogies had crashed on rocks and shattered into pieces while another was finally found almost one kilometre downstream from the accident.By the third day of the rescue operations, a majority of the bodies being recovered were in such an advanced stage of decomposition that no identification was possible. Instead, mass cremations were hurriedly arranged at the accident site. About 70 unidentified bodies were cremated on June 9.Meanwhile, the tragedy was being ghoulishly exploited by supporters of both the chief minister and the railway minister, each side trying to embarrass the other. Mishra's supporters claim that the cyclone story is a total concoction and that none of the huts or trees in the areas were damaged. Their claim is substantiated somewhat by the lack of any meteorological evidence of a cyclonic storm in the locality and by media reports that even haystacks near the bridge were intact.Some local witnesses also claim that the engine driver disobeyed standing orders by taking the train across the rickety bridge at a fast clip instead of dead slow as is usually done. Railway officials, however, are sticking to their cyclone theory steadfastly in the face of a growing clamour from opposition quarters demanding the resignation of Pande.That, however, has only succeeded in clouding the issue even further and ensuring that the real truth is submerged while another trainload of passengers somewhere involve themselves in another macabre game of Russian roulette.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 20, 2013 14:55 IST--- ENDS ---

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Balaghat train disaster: Human tragedy overshadows statistical measure

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