Meet Abdul Alim, Who Pulled Out 6-7 People From Mangled Coaches

On Friday, the country witnessed probably the worst train disaster in the history of India, with the derailment of the Kolkata-Chennai Coromandel Express. The train, which was running parallely to the Howrah-bound Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, derailed and collided with a stationary goods train. Coaches from the derailed train fell onto the two rear coaches of the Howrah Superfast and derailed its few coaches as well.

The accident led to 288 deaths and many more injured. The survivors of the tragedy have been given a second chance at life, and one of them is Abdul Alim of Basirhat town in West Bengal.

Eighteen-year-old Abdul Alim Ghazi of Hariharpur in Shakchura Bagundi village of North 24 Parganas was one among many passengers on the ill-fated Coromandel Express. He was en route to Kerala, where he had received work. Even after being injured after the accident, Abdul saved the lives of as many wounded and trapped passengers as he could.

Talking to News18, Abdul said that he heard a loud sound and was flung off his seat, and hurled over several times, injuring himself. He could hear people screaming for help from underneath the derailed coaches and despite being in pain himself, he pulled out around six to seven trapped people. However, the sight of blood all around him soon made him lose his senses and he fell unconscious on the railway track itself.

He was later helped by Odisha Police to get back home to Basirhat. Abdul is being hailed as a hero in his town for having saved the lives of other people, despite having sustained injuries himself. He told News18 that he is still finding it difficult to believe that he survived the accident. He also said that he is unable to sleep as he has been having nightmares about the accident and can hear the screams for help from trapped passengers in his sleep.