Through the walls of the train, over the noise of the tracks, I could hear them crying out, one woman shouting, ‘My children are thirsty! They need water! My gold ring for water!’ After two more days, they fell silent. By the time we arrived at our destination, as many as 40 per cent of people in the other carriages had died. In our car, only two people died. Thanks to my father, the rest of the people in our carriage survived.
