Bangalore: "It was around one in the night when I tumbled down from my middle berth and the next thing I could feel was blood streaking down my face," said the 52 year- old Surendranath Modi, almost on the verge of tears.

Modi, one of the passengers of the ill-fated train, working as principal of a junior college in Mahboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh, was coming to Bangalore to visit to his daughter working in a software company.

"I was administered first aid and now I am being taken to the railway hospital here. I just want to see my daughter," said the visibly shaken Modi, who had a bandaged forehead.

For the couple Perves and Ayesha Banu, it was a horrifying experience. "The train took a sharp turn in the night and we fell down with great force, not knowing what had happened," they said.

Perves, a car driver in Bangalore, had gone to Kurnool to visit his in-laws and was on his way back along with his wife when the mishap occurred.

The couple were sent home after being administered first aid.

"I just cannot get over the experience. I just want to get out of this place (railway station)," said the 47 year-old Indrani Bhattacharya from Kolkata, who had a narrow escape.

Indrani, who along with her niece Swati Mukherjee had gone to Hyderabad on a tour, was coming to Bangalore to visit her married daughter who is settled here.

"Late in the night, I who was sleeping in the middle berth fell down with a thud, followed by my niece sleeping in the upper berth, who fell alongside. We knew that something had gone radically wrong. And once we struggled out, we could hear wails coming from the tilted bogies," she said.

"I am thankful to god that I am alive," Indrani, in the middle of a tearful reunion with her daughter who had come to the station to receive her, said.

R V Haranur and his wife, one of the few composed unhurt passengers, who were coming to Bangalore from Hyderabad to attend a marriage function said, "The train was going at breakneck speed when the driver applied sudden brakes bringing the train to a grinding halt. When we came out, we could see some derailed bogies in the moonlight and hear groans.

"Since the accident occurred in the wee hours, help came only at 4 am (IST) when we were put into a relief train to Guntakal. I just cannot forget the shell-shocked expression of a pregnant woman in her late 20s, who was in our compartment. The poor lady started crying her heart out and it took a while for fellow passengers to pacify her," Haranur said.

PTI