A table tennis contingent from Bengal was on the Thiruvananthapuram Central-Shalimar SF Express that took 96 hours to reach Santragachhi.
The train was short-terminated at Santragachhi, usually the second-last station for the train.
Mitali Basak, a homemaker who lives in Kankurgachhi, accompanied her 13-year-old daughter, Subhamita, to Thiruvananthapuram for a national tournament. She shared her experience with The Telegraph:
A woman, feeling nauseous, went to the basin of the sleeper class. Suddenly, she collapsed on the floor below. We rushed towards her. Another woman who was part of the same group said she was diabetic and her blood sugar level had plunged.
A passenger got sugar from the pantry and stuffed it into her mouth. Within seconds, she started recovering.
The woman who collapsed was part of a large group from East Midnapore that had gone to Kovalam in Kerala. She was one of many passengers who had started their trip home with happy memories, only to realise that the journey had turned into a nightmare.
We were in a sleeper-class coach. It was cramped. What made things worse was the lack of a formal announcement from the railway authorities on what happened. The train was stranded for almost six hours at Narsipatnam Road, a little over 50km from Visakhapatnam.
But no railway official came up to us to give us the right information.
We had left home on October 18. I had planned my expenses and was accordingly carrying money. Thanks to the long delay on the train, I ran out of cash. I had a debit card but it was of no use.
Thankfully, I was not alone. I could borrow some money from the guardians of other players for basic expenses like food and water.
Many passengers in AC compartments were headed for Visakhapatnam. They were asked to get off and board another train on October 29.
Some of us then went to the AC coaches where several berths had become vacant.
I must thank the pantry staff and the cleaners. They did a remarkable job.
The toilets were cleaned regularly.
By the night of October 29, we came to know about the horrific accident, mainly from Facebook.
But what shocked us was the lack of clear communication from the railway authorities. Even when the train was being diverted, we had no clue about the new route.
A pantry hand said the train was being diverted but he had little information about the new route.
Back home, my family members were concerned.
By the middle of Tuesday, most of us guardians were extremely drained. The kids were more energetic than us.
It was a saving grace that we were travelling in a large group. Just the two of us enduring such a long journey would have been far more dreadful.
