"Woke Up To Screams": Chhattisgarh Train Collision Victims Recall Horror

What began as an ordinary evening on Tuesday turned into one of the darkest nights the city of Bilaspur has seen in years. The collision between the Gevra MEMU local and a stationary freight train has claimed eleven lives so far, leaving more than twenty critically injured. Among the wreckage, twisted steel and silence tell stories that words struggle to hold.

At around 4 pm, the MEMU local train sped toward Bilaspur station, unaware that death awaited just ahead. A freight train stood motionless on the same track.

Eyewitnesses recall a screeching sound of emergency brakes followed by a thunderous crash.

"The ground shook. People screamed and jumped out of windows," said Budhwari Kewat, who was near the tracks when the two trains collided.

Rescue teams rushed in, cutting through mangled coaches with gas cutters to reach those trapped inside. By nightfall, eight bodies had been recovered. Three more succumbed to their injuries later in hospital. The women's reserved coach and the engine bore the brunt of the impact twisted beyond recognition.

Chandrakant Pradhan, one of the survivors, was asleep when the tragedy struck. "There was a loud bang. I woke up to screams for help, smoke, and darkness. I just remember dragging people out," he said.

Others say the scene was surreal. "If the train had switched to the other track even a few seconds earlier, hundreds could have died," another passenger murmured at the hospital corridor, his arm bandaged and his eyes blank.

Amid the tragedy, one story has left Bilaspur heartbroken, that of one-and-a-half-year-old Rishi Yadav, now orphaned. His parents, Arjun and Sheela Yadav, were among those who lost their lives in the accident. The young couple had boarded the train to return home from Janjgir-Champa after a medical visit. Arjun, an auto-rickshaw driver, was the family's sole breadwinner.

Rishi survived with minor injuries and is being treated at Apollo Hospital. His grandmother too perished in the crash. "He keeps crying for his mother," said a nurse quietly, wiping away tears. The family's neighbours have urged the government to adopt Rishi and take responsibility for his future.

In Deori Khurd, the Yadav family's home village, mourning has wrapped every lane. The entire community has gathered, stunned, whispering prayers for the little boy who lost everything before he could even speak.

Bilaspur's hospitals are crowded with relatives searching for loved ones, clutching photographs, waiting for names to appear on lists. The city that once echoed with train whistles now trembles at the sound of them. Doctors at SIMS and the Railway Hospital work without rest, as ambulances continue to arrive even a day after the crash.

Officials suspect an auto-signal failure, but the cause is still under investigation. The Commissioner of Railway Safety has been ordered to submit a report soon. Until then, the question lingers how did two trains end up on the same track?

By midnight, the last of the trapped passengers were pulled out. Railway workers, firefighters, and locals worked shoulder to shoulder, refusing to rest. "We just wanted to hear voices from inside," said one rescuer, his face streaked with ash.