Odisha train accident: 18 more people from Bihar succumb to injuries

The number of people from Bihar who lost their lives in Friday’s triple-train tragedy in Odisha’s Balasore jumped to 39 with the death of 18 more people reported on Tuesday, officials said. At least 52 people from the state were injured in the accident and are undergoing treatment, while 24 are still missing.

According to the disaster management control room in Patna, those who died include nine from Muzaffarpur, seven from Madhubani, six from Bhagalpur, four from East Champaran, two each from West Champaran, Purnia, Nawada, Jamui and Darbhanga, and one each from Samastipur, Banka and Begusarai.

“The bodies of 13 victims have been handed over to their family members so far,” said a press release, issued by the state disaster management department on Tuesday.

Among those went missing, five are from Madhubani, three from Sitamarhi, two each from Darbhanga, Bhagalpur, Samastipur, East Champaran, Begusarai and one each from Patna, Sheikhpura, Siwan, Khagaria, Vaishali and Gaya, the press release said.

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“Among the 52 injured, 24 people are from Muzaffarpur alone. They are undergoing treatment at hospitals in Cuttack, Balasore and Khantapada. They will be brought back to their native places once their treatment is over,” said an official, who did not wish to be named.

Forty-seven-year-old Kunti Devi, a resident of Mahuwa Majhariya in Narkatiaganj subdivision of West Champaran, said her son’s body remains in one of the morgues in Balasore as no male member in the family was there to travel to Odisha and get the body home for last rites.

“My husband is in Kashmir; the elder son Ravi Paswan was in Nepal. Ravi came yesterday and left along with his uncle to bring the body back,” she told HT.

At Tajpur village in Begusarai district, the family of Raja Yadav (19), who boarded the fateful Coromandel express, are still clueless about him.

“I have been shuttling between Balasore and Bhubaneswar with his photograph but all my efforts to trace him have gone in vain,” said Sujeet Kumar, Raja Yadav’s elder brother.

Mohammad Kurban, a resident of Ghanshyam village in Darbhanga district and

the brother of Mohammad Monu, another missing man, said, “None from our family has ever travelled to distant places before, except my brother (Mohammad Monu).”

Ali Hussain, a resident of East Champaran and the uncle of Raza Mohammad Hawari (22), a migrant worker who died in the accident, said, “We can understand what the family members of those missing must be going through. My nephew was also traceless. But his decomposed body arrived at around 10pm on Monday and the last rite was performed by 11pm.”

The train crash killed at least 278 people and injured nearly 1,100.