On Leave NDRF Jawan Sent 1st Accident Alert, ‘Live Location’ of Mishap Site

An NDRF decoy while traveling on the Coromandel Express may have been the first person to alert the emergency services about the train accident at Balasore in Odisha before he joined the initial rescue efforts, officials said on Saturday. The Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel express entered the wrong lane and collided with a stationary goods train on Friday. Its buses were scattered everywhere including on an adjacent track and another passenger train – the Bengaluru Hora Superfast Express – coming at high speed collided with them and derailed.

India’s worst train accident in nearly three decades killed at least 288 people and injured more than 1,100. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Jawan Venkatesh NK was on vacation and traveling from Howrah in West Bengal to Tamil Nadu. Officials said he narrowly escaped as his B-7 trainer, though he derailed and did not hit the trainers before him. He was in a third coach and his seat number was 58.

The 39-year-old, who was posted to the NDF’s 2nd Battalion in Kolkata, called the 1st Senior Inspector of the battalion to inform him of the incident. He then sent the site’s “live location” on WhatsApp to the NDRF control room, and the first rescue teams used it to get to the spot, they said. Venkatesh told PTI on board the relief train that will take him to Chennai.

He said the locals, including a medical shop owner, were the “real lifesavers” as they helped the victims with whatever they had.

Two passenger trains carrying about 2,300 passengers crashed near Pahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, about 170 km north of Bhubaneswar.

“Gawan Venkatesh was traveling in the Coromandel Express while on vacation to his home in Tamil Nadu. He called the elders in Kolkata as soon as the accident happened. This phone call was probably the first that alerted the NDF which later informed the local administration,” an official said. .

Guan, who joined NDRF in 2021 from the Border Security Force (BSF), said he used his mobile phone’s light to locate injured and trapped passengers, and get them to safety. It was pitch dark and locals also used their mobile phones and flashlights to help the passengers until rescue teams arrived.

Mohsin Shahidi, NDRF DIG in Delhi, said, “The NDRF team is always on duty whether they are in uniform or not.” Friday, until this time, the NDRF rescuer has done everything he can to save lives in the “golden hour,” the official said. The “golden hour” is the period of time immediately following traumatic injury during which there is the highest probability that immediate medical and surgical treatment will prevent death.

(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)