Having to make do with little to no information about loved ones when news of death and devastation trickles in is a nightmare. This is exactly what relatives of passengers of the ill-fated Tamil Nadu Express have had to put up with as they reached Chennai Central on Monday morning.
Many of them were spotted rushing from counter to counter trying to find information about what had happened to their kin. In fact, many did not have a clue about the incident before they reached the station at around 7 am, the usual arrival time of the train.
Take the case of Selvam, a resident of MRC Nagar. Three of his relatives, including his sister and her child, all natives of Tirunelveli were slated to stay at his place on arrival. They had even called on Saturday night after they boarded the train. It was only when he arrived at the station to pick them up that he was informed about the accident.
The anxiety in his face was palpable as he said, “They travelled on seat numbers 43, 44 and 46 in S11 coach.” He said that when he tried calling their mobile number, it remained unreachable, further fueling his concern.
Jeevitha, who boarded the special train arranged by Southern Railways to take passengers’ relatives to Nellore, was similarly worried. Her cousin, R Gautam, who traveled in S11 remained unreachable since morning.
Relatives complained that the emergency contact numbers of hospitals in Nellore remained busy all the time. Worse, the assistance centre opened at the Chennai Central was of very little use, with almost no information or names of the injured.
“They kept repeating the number of bodies found was 19 or something. When you can’t establish the identity and tell people only the toll, how do you expect us to react?” said a relative, tears rolling down her cheeks. Several such relatives rued that till about 2 pm, even the count of the dead, provided by officials at Chennai Central, was not concrete. “News channels flashed more information than what these people provided,” one relative said.
When asked about the lack of information about natives of Chennai in the ill-fated bogie, officials of Southern Railways provided several reasons. According to one official, the blame also rested with passengers who fail to provide alternate phone numbers and proper address on the reservation forms.
“There are many who just scribble something and file the forms which makes this hard task,” he said. In the immediate instance, he said giving out the names of the deceased was close to impossible as the bodies were burnt beyond recognition. “Even relatives would find it hard to identify the bodies. So we ensure we do not give out any unauthenticated information,” he added.
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