Odisha train accident: 'My mother was missing, I got a picture of the body'

The train collision in India's eastern Odisha state on Friday evening - the country's worst this century - involved two passenger trains and a freight train.

At least 288 people were killed and 1,000 injured.

The BBC spoke to villagers who witnessed the crash, and an injured passenger.

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Suryaveer

My mother and my grandmother were on the train. They were going to the city to buy medicines.

I found my granny a few hours after the accident. She was alive. But my mother was missing. We looked for her everywhere but couldn't find her.

I didn't know what to do, so I forwarded a photo of my mother to all my friends and acquaintances. I shared her number as well and described the colour of the dress she was wearing when I last saw her.

This morning I heard from one of my friends. They sent me a picture of a body - it was my mother. She was wearing the same dress.

All I want now is to be able to take her body back home safely so that we can put her to rest. But there is so much chaos here - there are no trains and the roads are all jammed.

Girija Shankar Rath

There was chaos. There was a loud sound and there was smoke all around.

People were running in all directions. I was close to the tracks and decided to run to the spot. We started pulling out some of the trapped passengers. We managed to get some of the survivors out - and some bodies, too.

There were so many injured, we did not know how to get them out. It became a bit easier after the rescue workers arrived. This work went on almost throughout the night. I am still in a daze.

Tutu Biswas

We heard a loud sound. When we came out of the house, we saw that this accident had happened outside. I saw the goods train had climbed over on another train.

When I reached the spot, I saw that many people were injured, many people had died. A small child was crying whose parents had probably died. That child also died after a while.

Many people were asking for water here. I gave water to people as much as possible. People from our village came here and helped people as much as they could.

It was horrific.

Mukesh Pandit

I was in the train when we felt a slight jolt and the train derailed.

There was a thunderous sound and the train overturned. I was trapped and was rescued after half an hour by local people.

All our belongings were scattered outside. I couldn't find any of it. I came out and sat on the ground. Four passengers who were travelling from my village have survived, but a lot of people are injured or still missing.

A lot of people died in the coach I was travelling in. Those who were seriously injured were brought to the hospital.

Ritik Kumar

My brother was sitting on his berth and I was standing next to the door of the coach.

When the train overturned, I managed to escape. I thought my brother would've escaped too, but that did not happen. He got stuck under his seat.

I ran back to the wreckage and pulled him out - I pulled out a young girl who was stuck with him as well.

I called the police and the ambulance services but they took half-an-hour to get there.

Photos by Hemant Behara and additional reporting by Reuters news agency

India's deadly train crashes

• June 1981: Nearly 800 people die when seven of the nine coaches of an overcrowded train fall into a river during a cyclone

• August 1995: At least 350 people are killed when two trains collide 200km (125 miles) from Delhi

• August 1999: Two trains collide near Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) killing at least 285 people

• October 2005: 77 people are killed when a train derails in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh

• November 2016: Nearly 150 people are killed and an equal number are injured when 14 carriages of the Indore-Patna Express train derail near the city of Kanpur

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