HUBBALI: Countrymen are in shock after Amritsar train tragedy. Usually train accidents, if they are major in nature, will have their own impact on public of surrounding area, where they take place.For instance, shockwaves Yalvigi train collision, which is first major train accident in Karnataka, occurred om March 20, 1968, Wednesday, has still its own impact on people of Yalvigi and surrounding villages. As many as 53 passengers were killed and 41 were injured in the accident. Bengaluru bound Deccan Express running from Pune had collided with passenger train running from Birur to Hubballi, which was stationed at Yalvigi.As aftermath of the accident, many suffered depression and there was rampant fear of ghosts in surrounding villages of Haveri and Gadag districts. Whenever train accidents happen in the nation, Yalvigi people recall that furious tragedy even after 50 years.Recalling his horrific experience, Amanulla Khan Pathan, 60, a borewell businessman in Hubballi, told...
more... that he was travelling to Davangere along with his father Vaijr Khan Pathan and elder sister Mehrunnisa Pathan. “I was just 10 years old boy. Train left Hubballi by 8.30pm. We were sitting in general coach, attached just after engine. My father and sister slept on upper carriages, meant for luggage. But I was sitting on down seat along with other passengers, who were Lambanis travelling in bigger group. After 45 minutes or an hour, we heard a big sound and later I went unconscious. My head was broke into two pieces and I was considered as dead. I was loaded in lorry along with 20-30 bodies in early hours of next day. Due to foggy weather, I got conscious and found I am sleeping with blood shed bodies. But I was not in position to wake up. As lorry reached KMC, which is now called as KIMS, in Hubballi, it was full of bodies, injured and relatives of victims. I woke up and saw my coisins and waved my hands. Later I was admitted for eight months in KMC” he explained.HM Koppad, a retired railway employee, who was also 10 years old then, recalled he had rushed to see the accident in night time of March 2, 1968. “Coaches were pushed to other coaches and people who had come like me were crying loudly. All visiotrs, though they were neither hit not lost any relative, were inconsolable. Irony was that some policemen and very few visitors were looting money, gold and other things from the spot” he narrated.Pushpavati Angadi, 55, a resident of Yalvigi and a widow of a Railwayman, recalled many employees were denying to work at Yalvigi. “There was fear that dead persons have become ghosts and still they wander at station. But my husband Sharanappa Angadi, who was transferred to this station 30 years ago, completed his whole service here itself” she added.