Kashmir Singh then asked him to get down from the train as it slowed down. “Fifteen minutes after the man with thin lips got down from the train, there was a loud noise. At first, I thought some oil tanker below the bogey might have burst. But soon I started choking. I ran to open the door and window as even a minor delay would have cost me my life,” he said.

Ali said he first got down from the train as it stopped and then climbed again to save his family. “My wife somehow pushed some people ahead as the passage was blocked and there was total chaos. Her hair had caught fire. I somehow managed to get down from the train, but could not then muster the courage to get back to the train. People helped the Sardarji but none came forward to help my children,” he said.

Ali was brought to the civil hospital last night along with his wife Rukhsana and one-year-old daughter Aksa. He identified bodies of his 15-year-old daughter Ayesha and son Rehman (8) yesterday. The bodies of other three children Mohammed Bilal (12), Amir Hamza (10) and Asma (8) were identified.