Chapter 313: Chapter 155: Train Trapped (2)

Gu Ji dropped two orders, then swung the fire axe in his hand, smashing it fiercely at the supporting leg of the train’s table beside him. Bang, bang, bang—the aluminum cylindrical supports were bent one after another. Coupled with the age of the train, many screws and fixed nails were loosened or even fell off along with it.

He forcefully tore off one of the table boards and rushed inside, without a moment of hesitation.

Inside Carriage 17, the seats were completely soaked by the floodwaters, seat covers were scattered all over, and luggage and trash piled up on the ground. Two Indian soldiers, dressed in leopard-patterned camouflage with dark skin, and three sturdy disaster victims had already become drowned rats, yet they were still frantically using canvas to block the water from leaking through the broken windows around them.

Gu Ji noticed an Indian woman with a bloody head wound still unconscious on one of the seats. He quickly checked her injury, which fortunately didn’t appear too serious at a glance.

“Emergency personnel, emergency personnel, this is Vidi. We’ve found a lightly injured unconscious female in Carriage 17, preparing to move her to the injury assembly point. Bring two people to take her to the health support carriage in Carriage 2! Everyone else, block the leaking windows! Work in groups of three, two to cover the leaks, and one to secure, fix the table boards first, then cover with waterproof canvas, quick, Fatima, organize and distribute the canvas immediately!”

While pressing the walkie-talkie to command the medical emergency team, he arranged for the on-site emergency personnel, then quickly assigned personnel and material distribution after meeting Fatima, who was holding collected canvas, and took nails from his backpack.

This level of command undoubtedly left the young men dumbfounded.

The scene was clearly so harsh and chaotic, yet Gu Ji seemed completely unfazed, methodically solving each problem point, like a precisely running machine!

He approached the broken window with a table board from the side.

Braving the massive impact of the water, he rapidly used his shoulder to cover the shattered part of the window with the table board. The blocked water immediately sprayed down from the gaps in the leaks, and another young man beside him immediately reached out to help, while Fatima hurriedly hammered in the nails with the brass teapot found on the ground to secure it.

Soon, with the help of Gu Ji and others, the water leakage in Carriage 17 was effectively contained.

“Thank you, Shiva, for your protection, thank you, Shiva, for your protection…”

“We’re saved now, no need to worry about being drowned!”

“Mr. Vidhi, what’s our next step, will the rescue team really come to save us?”

Just as the disaster victims were asking Gu Ji, the train crew’s voice came through the transceiver on his chest, “This is Prab, the train conductor. We’ve contacted the command center, but the signal is very weak. Floodwaters in Dispur and Gauhati have already exceeded four meters, and most of the cities have been submerged. All remaining disaster victims are waiting for rescue on the rooftops. The Chief Minister and the accompanying Secretary went missing while being relocated by the state government. Currently, the police rescue team, the fire emergency team, and the water rescue team are all rushing to the capital area to search.”

The Chief Minister went missing?

Although the state government head is very important, the government is an entire administrative institution. As long as the management hierarchy is intact, decision-making and command capabilities still exist, it just means the decision-maker role falls to the Chief Secretary.

However, diverting the vast majority of the police force around the state government is undoubtedly a waste of rescue resources.

Gu Ji furrowed his brows.

“Has there been any contact with the central government?”

“Not yet.”

“In that case, find a way to contact the central government and the military district forces to inform them of the train disaster situation. Urge the central authorities to dispatch boat rescue teams to support Assam before the thunderstorms hit!”

The trainmaster Prab’s response left Gu Ji somewhat disappointed.

Currently, a large amount of rescue resources have already been diverted to urban areas, and if there is no aid from the central government, then everyone on this train is just waiting here to die!

After saying that, he turned to Fatima: “You are in charge of two things. First, contact all government officials on the train and urge them to quickly get the surrounding state’s police and fire brigades out for support. Second, have all the disaster victims on the train figure out a way to send out their trapped situation to online media, as much as possible, to gain media attention!”

“Understood!”

Fatima knew he was doing this to pressure the central government and military through the media, otherwise, with the connection between central and local governments, it would be difficult to get additional support over in a timely manner.

Gu Ji set the remaining young men in the carriage to continue addressing the remaining carriage leaks according to his earlier method.

Having done all this planning, he turned to dial the phone number of the Disaster Management Minister Anurag.

But the phone was always in a “beep beep beep” state, unable to get through, which was expected given the massive sudden flood that not only submerged the surrounding towns but also destroyed parts of the electrical system and communication signal towers.

This is also why Gu Ji delegated the task of communicating with the state command center and the central government to the train crew, because the train has exclusive railway satellite communication, which can relay sound, fax, and incident site images to the Ministry of Railways or related transportation departments quickly, even when the railway microwave relay communications and cable, optical cable lines suffer unexpected damage or the train encounters a major accident, for upper-level command to rescue.

Persistence pays off, after Gu Ji had dialed dozens of times in succession, the receiver finally gave a “beep” sound, followed by Anurag’s urgent inquiry.

“Vidi, how is the situation over there? The thing you were worried about finally happened. The Brahmaputra River upstream burst its banks unexpectedly, a massive amount of reservoir storage rushed to the midstream region, causing huge floods and mudslides and inundating numerous villages and towns!”

“Minister, the situation is not optimistic. The train was swept off the tracks by the floodwaters, bogged down in the adjacent forest mud; fortunately, the carriage damage wasn’t too severe. Currently, I am organizing the escort soldiers and volunteers to repair the leaks, but it won’t last long. Approximately seven passengers have died in the train, with an estimated sixty injured. We urgently need boat teams for rescue!”

Not knowing when the call might cut off, Gu Ji only highlighted the main points, speaking extremely fast.

“Shiva be praised! Thank you for blessing the people of Assam!” To his surprise, Anurag actually let out a huge sigh of relief after hearing his report.

In fact, a train hit by floods derailing is a major incident, so if only seven fatalities occurred, it’s considered very light.

In 2013, the train derailment in Spain saw over 80 casualties, and the Iran passenger train derailment in 2022 resulted in more than 22 fatalities. Both trains carried 247 and 430 people respectively.

And they were on a 60-car, overloaded passenger train, with over ten thousand people! Not to mention the additional risk of flood submersion.

So Anurag was understandably agitated.

But actually, it was because Gu Ji had deployed enough people that the train wasn’t swept away by the floodwaters. Moreover, the incident occurred when the train was stationary, and even if the train was moving, the freight head car’s speed was very slow, so the impact and damage from the derailment were far less than that of an ordinary passenger express train.

With the burden off his chest, Anurag continued.

“Mountain floods typically recede within hours or even less than one hour, while the flooding along the riverbanks lasts several times longer than in the mountains. All of Assam’s rescue forces are currently deployed in urban riverbank areas, where over ten thousand disaster victims are trapped on rooftops. Many government officials haven’t had time to evacuate, but I will find a way to have the Police Minister dispatch two boat teams to your location for support!”

“Minister, two boat teams can only transport some critically wounded patients. There are still ten thousand disaster victims on this train, and the tropical depression rainfall is expected by ten o’clock. By then, the water level will continue to rise, and the entire train will be buried by rainwater. My suggestion is to immediately contact the central government, and before the rainstorm hits, arrange to have large military transport airplanes drop boat units for rescue evacuation!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep