Stench of death as Nellore Railway Station turns into mortuary

Nellore:

Hours after tragedy struck Chennai-bound Tamil Nadu Express, stench of death filled Nellore Railway Station which was turned into a mortuary with anxious relatives from several parts of the country gathered there to identify their near and dear ones.

There was utter chaos at the station with relatives jostling for space to identify the bodies which were charred beyond recognition at the waiting hall of the railway station. A railway official said that only five bodies have been identified. “One of them was that of Venkatraman from Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Amidst the putrid smell and wailing relatives, coffins along with huge pieces of ice, about 40 in numbers, arrived at the station. The charred remains were transferred to the coffin along with ice to be kept in mortuary at the Government Hospital.

While officially, the toll was said to be 28 but people believe the number could swell. There were more than 25 persons who suffered burn injuries, some more than 80 per cent and were taken to four hospitals in Nellore. The hospitals include Jai Bharat Hospital, Bollineni Hospital, Government Hospital and People's Poly Clinic.

Meanwhile, a special train carrying 13 relatives of those who were in S11 and other coaches, arrived from Chennai at 1.40 pm.

Amidst grief and sorrow, the station also witnessed high profile visits including that of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu, film star Chiranjeevi and Railway Board Chairman Vinay Mittal besides other.

Various speculative theories also floated over the cause of the incident with some blaming the short circuit. Interestingly, this is the third such fire accident involving trains in South Central Railway in last 10 days. According to them, two incidents were reported involving empty rakes of passenger train in the Landen division of SCR.