Title - ‘I cradled my baby as I was thrown off’

CHENNAI: Six-month-old Arpita was the cynosure of all eyes at the Arakkonam government hospital on Wednesday morning. Politicians, policemen, nurses and other visitors were keen to meet the bubbly girl, who beamed at everyone. Her mother 26-year-old Pooja lay in a bed nearby, with injuries to her head and waist. Pooja, who was in an upper berth of the Muzaffarpur-Yeshwantpur Express which derailed near Arakkonam on Wednesday, shielded her baby with her body. The six-month-old survived without a scratch. "The train shook suddenly and I was hurled out of my berth in the impact. I was flung across the coach and landed on my head. I had curled myself around my baby to keep her safe," said Pooja. She, her daughter and husband, Amith Kumar, who works in a private company in Bangalore, were on their way back after a short holiday in Bihar. Kumar was unhurt.

Most of the injured passengers were migrant workers . M Siddiah, 55, attached to the Yeshwanthpur Government Railway Police, had gone to Bihar with his colleagues Muniyappa and Prahlad in search of a thief who robbed passengers on trains to Bangalore . Both Muniyappa and Prahlad had minor injuries, but Siddiah fractured his hand and injured his rib cage after he fell from the upper berth.

Bogies B1 and S1 were hurled off the tracks. Four injured passengers were transferred to Government General Hospital in Chennai later in the morning.
The railway authorities provided egg biryani and water to the injured but language proved a barrier while conversing with the injured passengers, most of whom spoke only Hindi.

At GH in Chennai, a family from Bihar was staring in incomprehension at doctors and nurses who were giving instructions in Tamil. Dhilip Bagdi his wife and a relative were going to meet his son who works in Bangalore. Bagdi fell from the upper berth and is suspected to have a spinal injury, said doctors.

Swapnil, an engineering student from Bihar, was returning to Bangalore after recuperating from an accident when the train derailed. He had just recovered from a leg fracture, and on Wednesday , he fractured his left arm.
"I was sleeping in the side lower berth. The impact threw me out of the berth. My hand was stuck in a handle near the lower berth. I was helpless as panicking passengers trampled upon me," said the 22-year-old final year student. "My arm feels numb. I hope I recover before my final exams," he said.