‘Hold on to the railings and open the doors!’

By: Kristine Felisse Mangunay - 10 years ago

WOULD SHE TAKE THEMRT AGAIN? An injured passenger is treated for injuries sustained after an MRT train derailed and crashed at Taft Avenue station in Pasay City onWednesday. RICHARD REYES

MANILA, Philippines–“I saw one person flying out of the train door.”

This was the account of a 34-year-old woman who was on one of the trains of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3) when it was derailed on Edsa and Taft Avenue in Pasay City on Wednesday.

The woman, who suffered a fractured right arm, was among at least 20 passengers who were taken to Pasay General Hospital.

She refused to be identified during the interview for fear her mother would see her name in the newspaper and have a heart attack.

According to the 34-year-old, she saw a passenger falling out a train door that opened as the coaches came skidding downward.

Jonalyn Galangue, 30, who was standing near the driver, said the doors were opened by the passengers themselves because the driver had told them to do so.

“The driver kept on saying, ‘Hold on to the railings and open the doors!’ while the MRT train was skidding downward,” she said.

According to Galangue, who took the MRT train at the Shaw Boulevard station in Mandaluyong City, the trains were running fine until they reached the Magallanes station in Makati City.

She said the trains stopped for around 30 minutes in the station.

“The passengers got so impatient they asked for the doors to be opened, but the driver refused,” Galangue said.

After a while, she said she felt that there was something pushing the train forward.

Skidding downward

Magdalena Rosero, 68, said it appeared it was another train that was pushing theirs forward.

According to Galangue, the train began to skid downward fast when they got to a steep part of the tracks.

“It was really fast. It was only a matter of seconds,” she said.

Handles detached

She said she held on to the railing and just closed her eyes.

Rosero said she saw flying handles, as they got detached from the train.

Loud bang

“How could you hold on if the handles themselves were broken?” she said.

The 34-year-old woman who refused to be identified said that after a few seconds, there was a loud bang.

“I really thought the train was going to explode so I jumped out of the train,” she said.

Rosero said when the train came to a stop, she found several people all over her.

Rosero had an injured right arm and leg as a result of the crash.

“I will never ride the MRT again,” she said.