As Water Filled the Janata Express Coach, He Called His Father to Say Goodbye

Bhopal: It has been over two days since the train tragedy in Madhya Pradesh's Harda and the focus has now shifted to restoration of the railway line. The derailment of two trains on Tuesday night within minutes of each other claimed 28 lives, of whom, six were from one family - the Batheras of Narsinghpur.

Nine members of the family were on way to the temple town of Shirdi when the disaster struck the Janata Express around 11.30 in the night.

A loud bang woke 22-year old Ghansham. Within minutes, he was neck deep in water as the water flooding the tracks entered the coaches. Only his mother was at his side.

"We feared it was the end for us," said Ghanshyam. He immediately phoned his father, Nahenlal, who was at home in Narsinghpur. The three spoke on the phone, saying their goodbyes.

"We told him that we were going to die and he should take care of himself," said Ghanshyam.

But he managed to escape from the train and through the emergency exit and climbed a tree to save himself from drowning.

In the morning, he was able to find his mother and a cousin alive. The rest of the family - his wife Vinita, two children, his sister and two aunts - had died in the tragedy.

The bodies were cremated in Narsinghpur today.

"I will never forget that night first my wife called and said that all of them are going to die. I thought I had lost them," Nanhelal Bathera told NDTV. "The accident killed six of my family members. The probe should be unbiased and the guilty should be punished."