Chennai bomb blasts: When passengers turn good Samaritans

CHENNAI: On Thursday morning, as terror gripped Chennai Central railway station, a few men stood tall to offer a helping hand.

"It was scary," said P Vijaya Kumar, TTE of S4 compartment in the Bangalore-Guwahati Express. With the help of railway employee Krishna Reddy, he used trolleys to carry the injured to ambulances. "Some trolleys were occupied with goods. It was difficult to remove them, but we had to do it fast because there were injured people screaming in pain. We carried them on the trolleys to ambulances that were waiting outside the station," said Vijaya Kumar.

Vulmawi, an engineering student in Bangalore, was standing outside the train when he heard a noise from the compartment behind his. As he ran towards it, he saw passengers inside S4 struggling to get out. "One man was in severe pain. He was screaming and blood was oozing from his leg and thigh. With the help of two other passengers I managed to get him out," said Vulmawi, who was on his way to his hometown, Guwahati.

Although it was the first time he had been in such a situation, Vulmawi rose to the occasion.

"I knew something was wrong after I saw passengers from the adjacent S5 compartment running. The scene inside S5 was as bad as in S4. I knew I had to get people out. I helped five of them out of the compartments in which the explosions took place," he said. Army man M Sitharam didn't hear the blast but saw people rushing out. His Army training helped him remain calm and take the injured out of the train immediately. "It was difficult to hold the victims as they were very agitated. And people at the spot were also worried about more explosions," he said.

Sitharam added that he had to change his shirt, which was covered in blood as he moved the victims. Guwahati-based Sivacharan Taluk was sleeping when the explosion took place. The 48-year-old was returning home to Guwahati after visiting some temples, including the Tirumala shrine. "I was sleeping when I heard people running on the platform," he said.

He got out of his compartment to see that there were still two boys remaining inside the ill-fated S4 compartment. "I took them out and made them sit on a nearby bench and I gave them some water," said Taluk.