RSS men come to aid of injured
From Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, Nov 26 — Saffron brigades rose to the occasion by being the first to come to aid of the seriously injured victims of the train collision near Khanna at Government Rajindra Hospital here today.

Volunteers of the Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (RSS) and its office-bearers were the first to arrive at Rajindra Hospital when the train collision victims were brought here. They helped to contact the relatives of the injured besides providing much-needed medicines in the absence of any immediate help from the district administration.

The president of the local unit of the RSS, Mr B.D. Gupta, said he along with the unit general secretary, Dr Pawan Kumar Singla, came to the hospital in the morning when they received the news that five of the injured in the tragedy had reached here. Immediately they set about making outstation calls to the relatives of the injured.

Anticipating that there would be a deluge of patients at Rajindra Hospital. A meeting of RSS workers was called in the hospital in the evening. The call received a good response, but some party workers had to be sent back as few patients were referred to Patiala.

Volunteers of the RSS had got medicines for engineer Ajay Arora of Jaipur, who is lying unconscious with a head injury. Volunteers of the party had also been earmarked for donating blood and some were overseeing the operation of a medical college student from Srinagar Khalid Mussarat.

Meanwhile, of the five patients referred here in a serious condition, Sabu Kumar, a military jawan, had been transferred to military hospital. A one-and-a-half year-old child, Arpit, was undergoing medication while one Shiv Kishan had been discharged.

Deputy Commissioner Viswajit Khanna said the District Red Cross would bear the total cost of medication of those admitted to Rajindra Hospital.

In a press note issued here, the PCC President, Capt Amarinder Singh, expressed shock at the train disaster and directed all Congress men in Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala to rush to the accident site to extend help to the injured. All three District Congress Committee offices had also been directed to remain open round-the-clock.

Scenes at hospitals
From Ruchika Mohindra

LUDHIANA, Nov 26 — Thunderous crash, splintering of panes and inky darkness. That is how most of the survivors admitted to the hospitals in Ludhiana recall the train crash.

A visit by this correspondent to the four hospitals in the city — the L.M. Civil Hospital, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Dayanand Medica College and Hospital and the Mohan Dai Oswal Hospital — learnt 119 victims had been admitted. In CMC, the number of victims are 51. According to the Medical Superintendent, Dr Kim Menon, the condition of seven of the patients is serious.

The victims are stated to be suffering from multiple fractures, head injuries, cuts and abrasions and chest and abdominal trauma.

Silence enveloped the casualty wards of these hospitals as a long stream of victims were brought in ambulances from Khanna. Most of the victims were unconscious. They were quickly given medical aid. The conscious among the victims were too dazed to cry out or speak.

A distraught husband was seen arguing with police personnel at the civil hospital. He was seeking information about the whereabouts of his wife who had been brought with him in the ambulance. But she was admitted to the CMC while he, along with his child, were brought to the civil hospital.

A year-old-child with face heavily bandaged and sat quietly in the lap of a nurse at the civil hospital. There was no sign of his parents.

Among the victims admitted at the DMC was Mr Mohsar Singh, an ex-MLA from Saharanpur in UP. Villagers from the nearby villages were the first to reach the sight of the accident. "They reached there within 15 minutes of the accident," recalled a 32-year-old woman who had boarded the Sealdah Express from Jalandhar. Another victim Lal Mohammad, 49, said that the villager used their presence of mind by first rescuing the injured from the wreckage."

Gulab Chand Gupta (38) who was going to Benaras, after visiting the Vaishno Devi at Katra, was in tears as he could not get any information about the 12 other members of his group. He said he was fast asleep when the accident took place. Sunil Dua (33) who was returning to Ambala after visiting the shrine. "I thought that the driver had suddenly applied brakes. Resulting in the derailment," he said.

Santosh Kumar, who was returning to Saharanpur after a holiday at Jammu with 12 of his relatives, was distraught as two of his family members had got killed. One of the compartments of the Sealdah express was packed with army and para-military jawans going home on leave. They also suffered many casualties. One of the victims said that the surviving army jawans were among the first to join the villagers in the rescue operations before help from government agencies arrived.

Meanwhile, the various social welfare organisations have been providing food and milk to the victims and are also donating blood.

PM, President express grief
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 26—The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, has expressed 'profound grief and sadness' over the death of over 100 persons and those injured in the rail accident near Khanna in Punjab.

In a message from New Delhi, Mr Vajpayee said, "In this hour of grief, I extend my heart-felt condolence to the kith and kin of those who lost their lives" in the mishap".

"I extend my heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families and to those injured," President K.R. Narayanan said in his message.