Three brothers Rauf, Asfaqur and Safiqur who were returning from their place of work at Guwahati to Sujapur in Malda to celebrate Bakr Eid with their relatives abandoned their journey midway and joined rescue operations with the villagers sending more than a dozen of injured passengers of the ill-fated Kanchenjangha Express to hospitals.

"We were to attend the sacrificial programme but what can be a bigger sacrifice than this one … to help the humanity in grief … we did not do anything big … my father would be very happy when he learns about what we did," said Rauf possibly the eldest of the three.

"We offered the passengers water … took care of the little children and helped the other passengers find their near and dear ones because it was a complete mess … people were trapped in mangled metal and we could not gather courage to enter there so we were only giving water to them to survive till help came in … the villagers too were very helpful," Asfaqur said.

When asked as how they would make up for time they lost they said, "Nabi tells us about Qurbani or sacrifice … can there be a bigger sacrifice than this … the little child I was holding in my arms and taking her to safety with her mother she was clutching at my clothes and trembling … I thought this was the biggest chance that Allah had given me and I thank him for letting me do this," said Rauf adding they would catch the evening bus and reach Malda by late evening.

"Arey sahib Allah ke bandon ko help kiya hei Allah kuch jaroor dega," one of them said. Albeit they return home with a great feeling of content.