Indore-Patna Express Derailment: WhatsApp Being Used by Doctors to Find Kin of Survivors

Advertisement
By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 21 November 2016 19:22 IST

Eight-year-old Sejal Yadav was pulled from the wreckage of a derailed train in northern India and rushed alone to hospital. Hours later she was reunited with her brother - thanks to WhatsApp.

As survivors were rescued from the mangled carriages of the Indore-Patna Express on Sunday, many - including children - became separated from their relatives as they were shunted into ambulances and taken to various hospitals in the area.

In the chaotic aftermath of the accident, which claimed at least 146 lives and left hundreds injured, doctors took to WhatsApp - sharing pictures of their patients with other hospitals in the area via the messaging app.

Advertisement

"We clicked (a photo of) every patient who came to our hospitals on our phone and immediately shared his, her name and identity on the group," A K Srivastava, a senior doctor at one of the local hospitals, told AFP.

Advertisement

"This way, if anyone from his family or acquaintances was at the other hospital looking for him, we were able to unite them swiftly," he said, scrolling through pictures of the injured on his phone.

The hospitals around Kanpur in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh have been flooded with dozens of victims, many severely injured and in a state of shock.

Advertisement

Yadav was one of the first children rescued from the accident site. She arrived at a government hospital in the town.

"For the initial part, she was in trauma and didn't say much but later she shared her name," a senior doctor at the hospital told AFP.

Advertisement

Her name and picture was then sent to the WhatsApp group and her name added to the survivor list, allowing her brother to track her down.

"She was with her maternal grandfather and two uncles at the time of the accident. All three of them are dead and she doesn't know this," her brother Rahul, 18, told AFP.

Rahul tried to hold back tears as he sat beside his sister's bed in the intensive care unit.

"I don't know what we can say or do after this. I hope that she recovers," he said.

 

For details of the latest launches and news from Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo and other companies at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, visit our MWC 2025 hub.

Advertisement
Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Nothing Phone 4a, Phone 4a Pro Launched in India at This Price
  2. Motorola Edge 70 Fusion Launched in India With 50-Megapixel Sony LYT-710 Camera
  3. Samsung Galaxy A47 5G, Galaxy A57 5G Specifications Leak Ahead of Launch
  4. OpenAI's GPT-5.4 AI Model Is Here, and It Can Use Your Computer
  5. Nothing Phone 4a vs Motorola Edge 70: Price in India, Features Compared
  6. Samsung Reportedly Hikes the Prices of These Galaxy Smartphone Models
  7. The OnePlus 15T is expected to go official in China soon as the latest addition to the One
  8. You Can Now Use OpenAI's Codex App on Windows
  9. WhatsApp Plus Could Soon Let You Pay to Access These Features
  10. Nothing Phone 4a Pro First Impressions
  1. OpenAI Releases GPT-5.4 AI Models With Agentic Computer-Use Capabilities
  2. Motorola Edge 70 Fusion Launched in India With 50-Megapixel Sony LYT-710 Camera, 7,000mAh Battery
  3. MacBook Pro (2026) With the M5 Max Chip Outpaces Older MacBook Pro Model With M4 Max on Geekbench
  4. Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Prices Reportedly Hiked in India; Several Models Said to Be Affected
  5. Honor X80i Spotted on TENAA With 6,800mAh Battery, 6.6-Inch OLED Display
  6. OnePlus 15T Tipped to Feature 1.5K 165Hz Display as Company Confirms Key Specifications
  7. Samsung Galaxy A37 5G and Galaxy A57 5G Specifications Reportedly Leaked in Full Ahead of Launch
  8. ISS Crew Prepares to Send Japan’s HTV-X1 Cargo Spacecraft Back to Earth After Four Months
  9. OpenAI’s Codex App Is Now Available on Windows, Can Be Downloaded via Microsoft Store
  10. OpenAI Teases GPT-5.4 AI Model Launch Just a Day After Releasing GPT-5.3 Instant
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2026. All rights reserved.