Rescuers hallucinate as blood, bodies keep them awake at night

BHUBANESWAR: Haunted by graphic images of lifeless bodies, pools of blood and scattered limbs, hallucinations are keeping the rescuers awake with some even imagining blood in water.
Hundreds of rescuers rushed to Bahanaga, where a triple-train pile-up, left 288 dead and over 1200 injured.
The rescuers were continuously working throughout the night to rescue victims of the train tragedy. Later they recovered hundreds of bodies from the train coaches and track.
"Our fire station is around 2 km from the train accident site, that's why we reached first after getting a call from villagers. I cannot describe what I saw in mere words. I have nightmares at night of people screaming and blood spilled everywhere," said Subash Chandra Jena, leading fireman of Bahanaga fire station in Balasore district.
The situation was totally different from small accidents and rescue operations that happen on regular intervals across the state. Though the firemen and members of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are used to such types of incidents, some of them, mostly new members, cannot forget such incidents immediately.
Prasanta Kumar Sethy, another fireman said they could not take rest and continued rescuing people. “The devastation, largescale injuries and loss of life is etched in my mind. I could not eat for days,” he added. Prasanta Kumar Kabi, rescued a minor girl from a mound of 15 bodies by cutting open a damaged coach and found her sitting among the bodies. “She was crying and requesting us to bring her out of the place. We safely rescued her immediately. The blood spilled everywhere comes to haunt me day and night,” he said. “Scenes of bodies and screaming of injured people doesn’t allow me to hit the bed,” he added.