Upadhay pulled the cord to
activate the emergency brakes in the nick of time, bringing the train to a halt
but died of suffocation
Some quick thinking on the part
of Devendra Upadhay, 48, saved the lives of many other passengers as a fire
broke out on the Bandra-Dehradun Express on Wednesday. But he himself did not
survive the blaze.
As thick smoke engulfed him,
Upadhay pulled the cord to activate the emergency brakes in the nick of time,
bringing the train to a halt.He died of suffocation, but helped others, like
his friend Mehul Bhanushali survive.
“Around 2.30 a.m., we heard
commotion. We saw women running from S3 towards our coach S4, screaming that there
was a fire. My friend pulled the chain. We jumped out through the emergency
exit, but Mr. Upadhyay couldn’t make it,” said an inconsolable Bhanushali.
Upadhyay was a trader in Mumbai.
“Had there been automatic fire alarms in place, this tragedy could have been
averted. The Railways do not care about passenger safety,” said his son Parth
Upadhyay.
Two other passengers who died in
the fire were also traders.
Firoz Pathan Khan, 48, and his
nephew, Nazir Khane, 32, were returning to Gujarat after a day’s visit to
Mumbai.
“We make frequent trips between
Mumbai and Gujarat. We regularly travel by the Dehradun Express,” said their
relative Wasim Sheikh, who came to collect their bodies at Cottage Hospital at
Dahanu Road. “We managed to identify them from their wallets,” he said. Only
five bodies have been identified. The rest were charred and sent to JJ Hospital
for DNA profiling.
The fire was contained by the
staff on the train since the hilly terrain delayed the arrival of the fire
brigade.
It was the locals who helped to
pull many passengers out of compartments. Among them was Ankur Kamble, a
student. “My friend told us about the incident and we rushed to the spot. There
was a lot of smoke emerging from the train. People were asking for help to jump
out. We did what we could to help,” he said.
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