“It was raining hard. I saw the bus run over the pavement and break through the railing. Locals began rescuing victims using taxis to take them to hospital. I took the bus driver and another victim to hospital,” he said.

As rescue workers used blowtorches to cut the smashed bus into pieces, railways personnel used tin sheets for a temporary repair job on the broken bridge railing.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leaders Partha Chatterjee and Arup Roy arrived on the spot as Mamata’s emissaries to take stock of the situation.

“We were in a meeting with Mamata didi when we got the news. Though it’s not a railways issue, she sent us here. After visiting the hospital, we will brief the railways minister on the situation. No help can be expected from the state government. Their reaction time is too slow. So, we’re talking to railways authorities,” Chatterjee told reporters on platform no. 12.