Relief on the faces of some of the first passengers to have crossed the crash site, on reaching Howrah. Pictures by Gopal Senapati

May 30: As the Mumbai Mail went past the torn and twisted remains of a train 130km from Howrah, Dhanalakshmi Seth whispered a prayer to her God and thanked him.

“I am so lucky to be alive. This was the first thought that came to my mind when I saw the mangled coaches lying all around,” said the 65-year-old woman.        

Arundhati Mukherjee was too scared to look out when she crossed the stretch bet- ween Sardiha and Khemasuli. Everyone in the compartment seemed to know it was here that 150 people were killed on Friday morning. Many with cameras had their foreheads pressed against the window grille for a good shot.

“But I didn’t even try to look out. I sat silently in my seat. I couldn’t gather the courage to move then,” said Arundhati, 30, who was with her husband and five-year-old daughter Tanisha on the Howrah-bound Jnaneswari Express.

“Of course I am scared. But there is no way out. We have to travel,” said Arundhati, who lives in Mumbai, where her husband works with a reputable engineering company.

Many of Mukherjee’s co-passengers had handkerchiefs covering their nose, so bad was the stench of rotting flesh from the damaged coaches lying off the tracks.

“The sabotage was the main point of discussion on the train. Even the ticket examiner told us we are among the first trains to cross that spot since the accident,” said Arundhati’s husband Tridip.

The first passengers to have crossed that stretch since Friday reached Howrah this afternoon with relief written on their faces.

The drivers of the Down Jnaneswari Express sounded stoical. “I just looked around at the spot,” said Ranjit Singh, 30. But he could not ignore a consequence of the tragedy. “We moved at 10kmph instead of the usual 110kmph.”

Trains are being allowed a maximum speed of 30kmph on the newly laid tracks.

“We were very careful while driving there. But there was no fear in our minds. We have to carry on with our work,” said P.N. Das, the other driver.

While waiting for sleep on the Mumbai Mail last night, Friday’s disaster repeatedly crossed young Sumit Kumar’s mind. “The time of the Jnaneswari’s derailment, 1.25am, kept coming back,” said Sumit, 21, an engineering student from Chhattisgarh who has come to Calcutta for internship.