Balasore, Odisha — Mohammad Afzal survived one of the worst train accidents in India’s history, but remained in a state of high anxiety, unable to locate his friend who was in the same coach.
Afzal, 19, has been going from one hospital to the next in the eastern state of Odisha, where the disaster took place on Friday, to track down his friend Mohmmad Mazhar, also 19, who had boarded the train with him.
Mazhar’s family, including his parents, uncles and aunts, from Kolkata in the neighbouring state of West Bengal, almost 200 kilometres (124.3 miles) from the accident site, have launched a frantic search.
But Mazhar’s whereabouts were unknown even more than 20 hours after the three-train pileup, as the death toll continued to rise.
“We boarded the general compartment of the train. The coach was completely packed. We had no place to sit, so we were standing,” Afzal said.
“Thirty minutes after boarding the train, the accident happened. We could feel the compartment overturn at least thrice,” he added.
Source from www.aljazeera.com