Travel horror stories across India

[Clarke]

Buses catching fire, trains doing the same and now a plane which was running low on fuel! The spontaneously combustible Nano might be your safest bet.

The usual depression that hits when I leave my Imphal home after Christmas break lifted momentarily on Sunday at the airport. AI-890, the Air India flight to Delhi via Guwahati, was on time. Well, it was only 15 minutes late, and that’s as good as it gets with Air India. In fact, I was even a little impressed as the Airbus A320 took off with about 170 people aboard — without fuss, fear or favour at 4 pm on Sunday. Little did I know that I was flying to a brush with death, and that a full day after surviving it, I would be in a creaky bus jammed between endless lines of smoke- spewing trucks between Jaipur and Delhi. Out of Imphal, the flight was smooth, but for a turbulence-related jerk now and then. Almost four hours and some circling around the Capital later, the pilot announced that Delhi was smothered in heavy fog and that we would be diverted to Allahabad or Jaipur. An hour later, we were told to prepare for landing at Jaipur. Bad luck turned into a nightmare the moment the plane touched down. There was a jaw-breaking jerk as it made contact with the runway. The speed seemed uncontrollably high and the plane swayed and listed violently. We were not slowing down at all, and the plane was shuddering like it would break into pieces any time. This is not how I want to die, I remember thinking. An oxygen mask or two dropped behind me. Sparks flew from one of the wings. My seat, 11A, was right next to the emergency exit, and I tried to remember the cabin crew’s instructions on how to open it. Finally, the plane came to a halt. Tears flowed as cellphones came alive through the plane. One man was saying: “The wing caught fire. I didn’t reach Delhi but thankfully I didn’t go up either.†Mary, the lady sitting behind me— I later found out she is a Delhi University lecturer said she had first thought that the “ Jaipur runway is not smoothly made" before she realised the horror of her situation. The pilot’s voice boomed over the PA system: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have landed in Jaipur. We didn’t have enough fuel to fly to Allahabad or Lucknow, so even though the visibility was zero in Jaipur, we were forced to make an emergency landing.†What he said next left me aghast: “So, thank goodness we are all still alive.†I must say all 170 passengers are safe because of his skills, but his words made me feel worse. The passengers needed reassurance, not professional confirmation of a near- death experience. It kept getting worse. Passengers sat in the aircraft for an hour while the Jaipur ground crew tried to find their way to us through the fog. When we finally disembarked, it was like a movie scene. I saw at least four fire engines, a few ambulances and some police vehicles, all with lights flashing. It was only later that we found out that a tyre had burst when we landed and the wing had been damaged. The airline gave us the option to take a bus to Delhi in an hour but I realised it would be foolish to be on the road in that fog. I opted to stay in Jaipur. It took three hours for me to get to a hotel room. On Monday morning, we kept checking with the hotel if there was any word from Air India. “ There is no message yet, ma'am,†the receptionist kept repeating. Finally, at 11 am, we were told the coach had arrived to take us to the airport where those who wanted to take a bus back to Delhi would be given that option. I planned to catch any available flight back if Air India could not arrange one. We got on the coach and, to my surprise, found out it was taking us straight to Delhi! There was no staff from Air India to inform us about the plans, no one we could address our grievances to. We were just put on three non- Volvo, non- luxury, creaky buses for Delhi. I hadn’t wanted to worry my parents so I’d only told them that our flight had been diverted to Jaipur because of fog. But my phone rang when we'd travelled about three hours and my mom said, “Why didn't you tell us what happened? It's all over the news. The tyre burst, the wing broke, the plane was nearly out of fuel. You nearly crash-landed.†Eight hours after speaking to my mother, I was still on the bus; the 250-km journey to Delhi airport took all of eleven hours. I was dead- tired, but alive, and that’s what matters.

[Clarke]

Nine passengers died and over ten were injured after a sleeper coach of the Bandra - Dehradun Express caught fire around 2.30 a.m. on Wednesday, railway authorities said. The fire reportedly broke in one of the sleeper coaches and then spread to three boogies of the train (S3,S4 and S5) around 2.30 a.m. The incident happened between Gholwad and Dahanu Road station in Thane district of Maharashtra around 170 kilometres from Mumbai. The injured were rushed to the local hospital. Railway authorities say that the gateman of the train spotted the fire and alerted the guard who immediately halted the train. The fire was brought under control within an hour and after the cooling operations were completed , the affected coaches were decoupled and the train commenced its further journey. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained but preliminary reports indicate that a short circuit might be the cause of fire. "Medical relief trains reached the spot from Valsad and Mumbai immediately after we learnt about the incident. The injured are being treated at local hospitals," western railway spokesperson told The Hindu. The railway minister has ordered a probe into the incident and has announced a compensation of Rs.5 lakhs to the deceased families. Western Railways have set up helpline numbers — 022-23011853 and 022-230073885 — to those seeking information on the train and passengers. The other helpline numbers are – 022-67649632 – Dahanu Road; 022-26435756 - Bandra Terminus; 0261-2423992 - Surat; 011-23342954 & 1072 – New Delhi and 0135 2624002, 2624003 – Dehradun. Time line 12.05 Dehradun Express departs from Bandra Terminus in Mumbai. 2.17 am - Dehradun Express reaches Dahanu Road station. 2.19 am - The train leaves the station. No fire is reported so far. 2.25 am - Gateman Jawahar Singh notices a thick layer of smoke emerging from the rear end bogies of the train at Gate no. 60, nearly eight kilometres from the Dahanu Road station. Mr.Singh alerts the station manager. 2.35 am - Train is brought to a halt around one and half kilometres from Gate no. 60. 3.30 am Fire is brought under control.Cooling operations are undertaken. 5.30 am Six affected coaches are detached and the train resumes its journey further.

[hhunaeh]

Nice thread, unfortunately we will keep finding material to post here once every few days.

[hhunaeh]

with bus and train accidents in the past few months, a lot of them have over night travel, ac compartments, sleeping passengers as the commonalities.

[hhunaeh]

Nine passengers died and over ten were injured after a sleeper coach of the Bandra - Dehradun Express caught fire around 2.30 a.m. on Wednesday, railway authorities said. The fire reportedly broke in one of the sleeper coaches and then spread to three boogies of the train (S3,S4 and S5) around 2.30 a.m. The incident happened between Gholwad and Dahanu Road station in Thane district of Maharashtra around 170 kilometres from Mumbai. The injured were rushed to the local hospital. Railway authorities say that the gateman of the train spotted the fire and alerted the guard who immediately halted the train. The fire was brought under control within an hour and after the cooling operations were completed , the affected coaches were decoupled and the train commenced its further journey. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained but preliminary reports indicate that a short circuit might be the cause of fire. "Medical relief trains reached the spot from Valsad and Mumbai immediately after we learnt about the incident. The injured are being treated at local hospitals," western railway spokesperson told The Hindu. The railway minister has ordered a probe into the incident and has announced a compensation of Rs.5 lakhs to the deceased families. Western Railways have set up helpline numbers — 022-23011853 and 022-230073885 — to those seeking information on the train and passengers. The other helpline numbers are – 022-67649632 – Dahanu Road; 022-26435756 - Bandra Terminus; 0261-2423992 - Surat; 011-23342954 & 1072 – New Delhi and 0135 2624002, 2624003 – Dehradun. Time line 12.05 Dehradun Express departs from Bandra Terminus in Mumbai. 2.17 am - Dehradun Express reaches Dahanu Road station. 2.19 am - The train leaves the station. No fire is reported so far. 2.25 am - Gateman Jawahar Singh notices a thick layer of smoke emerging from the rear end bogies of the train at Gate no. 60, nearly eight kilometres from the Dahanu Road station. Mr.Singh alerts the station manager. 2.35 am - Train is brought to a halt around one and half kilometres from Gate no. 60. 3.30 am Fire is brought under control.Cooling operations are undertaken. 5.30 am Six affected coaches are detached and the train resumes its journey further.

I skimmed through the first line and mistook the above for this accident last month Bangalore-Nanded Express fire: Forensic experts begin investigations

[ganeshran]

Poor Maintenance in Railways starting to take its toll. They need to raise fares. Bangalore to Chennai non ac bus ticket costs Rs 365 Delhi to Chennai non ac train ticket costs 640 odd