Hirakhand Express mishap: 1 yr after husband's death, woman loses daughter, son

Koraput (Odisha): Tragedy revisited 40-year-old Jashoda as she lost her two teenage children in the derailment of Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Express exactly a year after losing her husband.

Jashoda was travelling in the train that derailed on January 21 in Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh. Her 16-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son were among the 39 people killed in the accident.

She lost her husband to a disease in Vizianagaram on January 22 last year.

Jashoda had gone to her parents' place at Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district from Vizianagaram with her two children, on the occasion of Pongal.

The family had boarded a general compartment of the Junagarh-Bhubaneswar Express, which was attached to the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Express, at Bhawanipatna railway station on Saturday.

The train reached Rayagada station at around 9.30 PM. "We had our dinner, chatted a little and went to sleep after setting the alarm on the mobile phone to wake us up near Vizianagaram," Jashoda said.

"Around 20 minutes after the train left Rayagada, I heard a loud sound and woke up. I initially thought that someone had pelted stones on the train. However, I soon realised that the train has derailed," Jashoda said.

"There were screams all around. I somehow came out of the coach and waited for my children... but they did not come out," she said in a broken voice.

The two were killed instantaneously in the derailment.