Mohammed Mojammel Haque, 42, a farmer whose house at Mouamari village of Maynaguri is barely 100 meters from the tracks where at least 10 coaches of Bikaner-Guwahati Express were derailed, was still in a trauma while recounting what he saw after rushing out of his home immediately after the accident on Thursday evening.

“I had woken up from my nap only a few minutes ago and then I heard this loud bang. I rushed out of my home and the coaches were still in motion. The bogies were derailing one after another. I lost my nerve and felt that I would fall down on the field as I tried to run to the aid passengers screaming for help. I will never forget the horrifying moments I witnessed today,” said Haque.

Amid the trauma of witnessing such an accident, Haque pulled out his mobile phone and informed the local panchayat member about the incident. Local residents said Haque was among the few who witnessed the immediate aftermath of the accident.

“I called up my panchayat member and informed him about the disaster. I asked him to call the police and others,” he said.

It was a foggy January evening and passengers of almost all coaches had pulled down the window panes as the moving train brought in a spell of cold wave. The closed windows had become a challenge for rescue workers trying to save lives.

“Most of the windows were closed and even a few doors. I, along with a few of my friends, had to break the emergency windows with trackside stones,” said Parimal Barman, 35, who along with his friends were among the first few persons to start the rescue work.

Eyewitnesses, including a few passengers who survived the accident with minor injuries, said how they were shocked and panicked but did not forget to help others crying to get rescued.

“It was around 4.30pm, I felt a big jolt and was about to fall from my seat. Suddenly I discovered that our coach (S10) had started to tilt to the right. Amid the shock, I started moving towards the gate and jumped out of the train,” said e-commerce company employee Sandip Kumar, who was heading towards Nagaland from his workplace in Agra.

Kumar was travelling with Goutam Barman and his wife Mousumi, both migrant workers, along with their six-year-old son. Mousumi, along with her son, followed Kumar but could leave the bogie as her husband Goutam was stuck under a stack of luggage. Mousumi’s cry led Kumar to enter the tilting coach again.

“The coach was tilting slowly but I had to rescue the person stuck under the luggage. I took Goutam out and helped them to get off the coach,” said Kumar.

Goutam, who received injuries in his legs, said he would have choked to death if Kumar had not intervened.

Puna Devi Kanti, 35, who was traveling with her 70-year-old mother to Guwahati, from Katihar in Bihar said it was a challenge to take out her mother who fell down from the sleeper on the floor of the tilting coach.

“I found that passengers were falling here and there and suddenly discovered my elderly mother lying on the floor. I cried for help and after struggling for a while, I could rescue her with the help of a few youths,” said a traumatised Puna.