Survivors recall horror of Odisha train crash: ‘Suddenly everything went silent. And then there were screams’

Injured passengers recall the horrific night of the crash as relatives of the dead face a race against time to find their loved ones’ remains. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports from Odisha

Rescue workers gather around damaged carriages at the accident site of a three-train collision near Balasore (AFP via Getty Images)

A young man in his twenties wails as he runs towards the mortuary, moments after receiving the news he had been dreading – that his brother is among the 275 victims of India's deadliest rail crash this century, and that now he must identify his remains.

Like many of the relatives gathering here at the largest hospital in Bhubaneswar, Sheikh Sahagir travelled for hours overnight after hearing on TV about the crash involving three trains including the Coromandel Express, on which his 20-year-old brother Sheikh Sahid Alam was a passenger.

They first made their way to the site of Friday’s crash at Balasore to look for him, “but after reaching the spot we were asked to visit hospitals, and from there officials directed us to visit AIIMS [hospital]”, he says. Here the stench of rotten flesh fills the air as bodies at the mortuary – which does not have refrigeration – begin to decompose in the sweltering heat.