Balasore train tragedy death toll rises to 290
According to the officials, Prakash Ram, hailing from Pathra village in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, was travelling back home on the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express when the general coach he was in derailed and fell into a ditch after being hit by the derailed bogies of the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express.
A 22-year-old migrant labourer from Bihar, gravely injured in the train tragedy on June 2 in Odisha’s Balasore district, succumbed to his injuries on Friday, bringing the death toll to 290, officials close to the developments said.
According to the officials, Prakash Ram, hailing from Pathra village in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, was travelling back home on the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express when the general coach he was in derailed and fell into a ditch after being hit by the derailed bogies of the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express.
Ram regained consciousness in the Balasore district headquarters hospital and was transferred to the surgery ward of SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, officials added. The doctors had amputated his left leg below the knee and operated on his left arm with multiple fractures, the officials said.
On Friday morning, Ram began experiencing vomiting and subsequently passed away. Expressing grief, his mother, Pramila Devi, said, “My husband is mentally unsound. My son was the only earning member of my family. I don’t know how we would survive.”
Ram was employed at a ceramic tile factory in Ongole city of Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh for the past two years.
Over 900 people were officially reported injured in the train tragedy, with more than 100 still receiving treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and a few private hospitals in Bhubaneswar.
Meanwhile, the identities of 81 bodies preserved at AIIMS Bhubaneswar are yet to be determined as claimants await the results of DNA tests. To date, DNA samples have been collected from 78 families.
