By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
IT was a horrible sort of Final Destination moment for Lucia Hatzivoyiatzis. The Dandenong single mum thought she was going to die as she clinged onto chairs in the front carriage that rammed into a prime mover at the Abbotts Road level crossing in Dandenong South on Saturday morning.
As she sat on her Cranbourne-bound train to visit her two daughters and her mother, she had no inkling of any danger until hearing a ‘‘massive explosion’’ that threw her from her seat.
‘‘It was like an out-of-control roller-coaster,’’ Hatzivoyiatzis describes the terrifying ride in the derailed carriage.
She held on to a seat ‘‘for dear life’’ during the high-speed jackknife. ‘‘I remember when it was happening, I wasn’t screaming — I just hoped that if I was going to die, it wasn’t going to be painful.’’
Her thoughts turned to her three-year-old daughter Elleni. Hatzivoyiatzis was relieved that she had decided at the last minute not to take Elleni on the trip, then she thought how she wanted to hold her.
‘‘I can’t explain the horror of it all. You can’t imagine what comes through your head.’’
SEE: Truck appeared to crash into gates.
CLICK HERE for our gallery showing cranes clearing the tracks.
CLICK HERE for our gallery of the tragic aftermath.
CLICK HERE for our gallery from Saturday night.
CLICK HERE for more images from the crash site.
As the train flipped on its side, her head and shoulders slammed into the side window, which shattered into ‘‘‘lightning bolt’ cracks in the glass.’’
After what seemed like two minutes, the carriage came to rest on its side, facing backwards. With adrenalin pumping, Hatzivoyiatzis burrowed out of the window underneath her to safety. She was unaware of a nearby live wire as well as of any pain from her right shoulder, fractured during the crash.
In the frantic minutes afterwards, she saw people arriving to extricate people from the train, but no survivors. As far as she knew, there was no one else in her carriage’s passenger compartment.
‘‘It was like a moment out of Final Destination. I’d survived this train accident and there was no one else around. I thought everyone else was dead.’’
She soon returned to the scene to collect her things, she found her carriage a ‘‘tumbled and mangled mess’’.
Her phone and personal belongings, including cash for rent and groceries, are still on the train.
‘‘All the seats were twisted,’’ she said. ‘‘All I could see of mine was some baby cream, which had been in my handbag. It was on one of the seats.’’
Hatzivoyiatzis has borne sleepless, painful nights since being released from Frankston Hospital on the night of the crash.
She has had no prescription pain-killers, no counselling since being administered with morphine in the hospital two days ago.
Several ‘what ifs’ have been crowding her tired imagination since — a tortured Sliding Doors routine.
What if she had have taken Elleni on the trip.
What if Elleni hadn’t held her up and she hadn’t had to buy a train ticket, she wouldn’t have missed the previous Cranbourne-bound train.
‘‘I hadn’t been on a train for about a year,’’ Hatzivoyiatzis said. ‘‘I don’t think I’ll go on another one.’’
