The last memory Anna Costley has before the train she was on derailed, killing nine people, is of lying in her bunk, drifting off to sleep with the thought that she would soon be home in Wellington. It had been a year of adventure for the 27-year-old, travelling Asia and staying with poverty-stricken families to find out how aid agencies were supporting them.
As well as the excitement, there had also been danger. She was in a car accident in Indonesia and her boat was struck by lightening in Vietnam. In Thailand, she had fallen into a sewer, lost her luggage and burned her leg. In Cambodia, she got food poisoning three times in two weeks. Now travelling from Jodphur to Delhi in India, she had just one more stop in Thailand before heading back to her family and friends.
After a short sleep, Anna woke as the train went through the city of Jaipur and was dozing off again when suddenly jolted and heard the screech of tearing metal. The lights went out in the carriage that she shared with nine others, including children. In the pitch darkness, surrounding by screaming people, Anna felt the train begin to shake violently.
“Then the carriage fl ipped over on its side and I slid off and hit objects in the dark as I fell,” says Anna, who is still traumatised by the memory of the crash. “I landed on top of several people as the carriage rolled. Then everyone was silent, waiting to see if the train would keep rolling, but thankfully it stayed where it was.”
Anna could hear people shouting out in Hindi as she picked herself up off the floor and helped others stagger to their feet. People used the light from their cellphones to check others for injuries.
“A man shone a light on me and I could see a shocked look on his face. I reached up, touched my head and felt blood pouring from a wound in my scalp,” she says. “I also caught sight of a huge bit of jagged metal that had stabbed through the side of our carriage. It was a miracle it hadn’t struck.” Anna heard other passengers on the train moaning in pain or calling out for loved ones. Trapped in the carriage, she could only wait while a way out was found. “I tried to stay calm but I really don’t like confined spaces,” she says.
The only escape was through a window, now at the top of the wrecked carriage. “Some men climbed up and wrenched the bars off the window to get it open, then climbed onto the roof and began pulling people out,” she says. “I knew I was injured and the thought of climbing up the wrecked bunks to get to the window scared me. I didn’t want to hurt myself even more.
“I managed to get up there and they began pulling me by the arms. Suddenly, I felt a horrible pain go through my body and saw I had another wound in my side.” on the roof, Anna felt sick with pain. She could see that only four carriages out of the 21 had tipped over. The rest of the train was zigzagged across the tracks.
“I had a three-metre jump from the roof to the tracks. Some men helped me down. They saw I was covered in blood and were very careful. I waited next to the train until someone threw my backpack out to me.” No ambulances had arrived, although police jeeps were on the scene, picking up injured people and taking them on the 30-minute drive to hospital.
“With every bump they went over, I felt a stab of pain,” she says. “I needed stitches but had no broken bones. A nurse told me I was lucky. They amputated the leg of a guy in the bed next to me.” She was able to ring her dad, Brent, back in New Zealand, who arranged for Anna’s brother Tim (29) to meet her in Thailand and bring her home.
After two days in hospital, a representative from the New Zealand embassy collected Anna and put her on a bus to Delhi. “As I was leaving, an offi cial from the train company visited and told me nine people had died in the four carriages that rolled. oy heart went out to their families. It could so easily have been me,” she says.
Boarding the plane from India, her wounds stitched and her arms bruised, Anna says she felt a huge sense of relief. “I was sad that I wouldn’t be staying in Thailand but it was good to see Tim and know I wouldn’t be on my own for the trip back,” she says.
It has now been almost two months since the terrible crash and Anna’s wounds are healing slowly. “I loved India and the people were amazing,” she says. “This won’t stop me going back and taking the train again. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
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