All 110 passengers from Kalasa on ill-fated Howrah train safe, continue journey to Shikharji

CHIKKAMAGALURU, HASSAN: All 110 passengers from Kalasa in the district, who were travelling in the ill-fated Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express, which was involved in an accident at Balasore in Odisha, are safe.

The 110 passengers, from Kalasa, Samse, Hornad and surrounding areas, were on their way to Sammet Shikharji, one of the holiest pilgrimage sites for Jains, in Giridih district of Jharkhand, where the 24 Jain Thirthankara attained salvation.

Santhosh and Harshavardhan Jain.

“We were in the S5 coach and the Chennai Express train hit the AC coach next to ours. The S5 coach and the others got detached and rolled ahead. The railway staff rescued us and made arrangements in a different train and we are on our way to Jharkhand via Kolkata”, said Santhosh, of the the passengers, in a video message.

Mala Harshavardhan Jain, the brother of one of the passengers, said the group of 110 people left from Sringeri and Hornad under the leadership of Ajitkumar Jain on May 31 and reached Bengaluru at 4 am the next day.

Some of the passengers of the Howrah Express train from Kalasa in Chikkamagalur district.

“My brother Mala Prakash Jain and sister-in-law Lavanya were among the group. The train started two hours late and the group was in the S5, S6 and S7 coaches of the Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express. My brother said there was a loud sound and people on the upper berths fell down. When they saw what had happened outside, there was death and mayhem. However, no one in the group sustained any injuries and they continued their journey to Shikharji”, he added.