Bikaner-Guwahati Express Train Accident: Nine people were killed in a train crash.
Guwahati:
A man, injured in a train derailment in West Bengal, was reunited with his family in Assam on Friday with the help of loudspeakers at a mosque used for namaz.
Safikul Ali, a resident of Dhula in Assam’s Darrang district, was among those injured in the Bikaner-Guwahati express train crash in the neighboring state’s Jalpaiguri district on Thursday.
Having narrowly escaped the crash that claimed the lives of nine people, Ali is being treated at the Super Special Hospital in Jalpaiguri, where Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited the injured on Friday.
A Northeastern Border Railway (NFR) official told PTI: “While inquiring about Ali’s well-being, the Minister learned that he was unable to contact his family because of him and his family members. All families don’t have cell phones.”
Ali said he had a neighbor’s phone number and Vaishnaw immediately put him in touch, the official said.
However, the neighbor could not find Ali’s family at home, and a postman arranged by the minister was also unable to track them down, he added.
After unsuccessful attempts to contact the family, an announcement was made from the village mosque over the loudspeaker used for the namaaz, the official said.
Later, the family learned of Ali’s condition and contacted railway authorities. Ali’s brother is currently on his way to Jalpaiguri, he added.
At least nine people were killed and 36 others injured when 12 locomotives of the train derailed near Domohani in the Jalpaiguri district on Thursday.
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