lost lives, limbs and livelihoods

ARAKKONAM: The family of 30-year-old Chettu is shocked. “My nephew always took the Chennai train, but everyone is saying he came in the ‘big train’ (passenger train),” says his confused uncle Velayu­tham, “They have taken all his particulars and are saying he’s dead, but maybe he’ll come on the train tonight,” he says with a look almost devoid of faith. A resident of Melavatham village, whose stop Anavardhikanpet would have come up in two minutes had the train not stopped at the signal, construction worker Chettu travelled everyday to Chennai. Once the police confirmed he was dead, his uncle wept, “How can I tell this to his wife and their six-month-old baby?” Almost all those who boar­ded the passenger from Arakkonam to Katpadi are labourers, and most recount the same story, “It was announ­ced at the station that the local train to Vellore was running late by one hour,” recalls Shanti (44), massaging her bandaged head. She and her son Karthikeyan (23), also a daily wager, then decided to head home to Thalangai on the passenger train that rolled into Arakkonam. “We got into the last compartment with the guard and thought it was a smart way to get home fast,” she says. After the train stopped a little before Chitheri at 9.05 pm and stood for a while, the “thundering boom” fell on them.  “It was like a thunderbolt and I was thrown upside do­wn,” she recalls, before passing out. Her son fills in on how they were thro­wn on the gravel from where some villagers pulled them out. “They handed us over to an ambulance and now we are safe,” he says in gratitude.Ramamoorthy (49), who works at Britannia in Ambattur is worried about his niece Nirosha (19), whose legs are “badly injured”. Stu­ck under a beam, she had to be forcibly pulled out. Considering she work­s as a seamstress, her future seems bleak.Despite severe wounds, mason Arumugam manages to sport a smile. “After the crash, two people got trapped under my seat. I got out, realised I could not leave them there and went back.” He pulled out both, but damaged his back in doing so. “Finally my village has a reason to be proud of me, no matter the cost,” he says with a painful smile.