BENGAL MAN PRESUMED DEAD AFTER ODISHA TRAIN ACCIDENT BACK HOME

Biswajit Malik boarded the fateful Coromandel Express from Kolkata. He was on his way to Chennai when the train he was on got into one of the deadliest train accidents the country has seen in decades.

Malik, 24, was presumed dead and he was laid on a field adjacent to the tracks along with other victims. But, he soon regained consciousness. The locals, aiding the rescue ops, spotted movement in his hands and swiftly rushed him to the nearest hospital.

Soon, Biswajit's father, Helaram Malik, received a call from his son, saying that he had been admitted to a local hospital after an accident. The news of the tragedy had not reached the Malik home in Bengal's Howrah yet.

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"I spoke to him when the train was in Kharagpur. Then he called again around 7:30 pm and said his train had met with an accident. He couldn't properly tell me where it happened. But I figured it would be somewhere near the Odisha border. Then news came in about the tragic accident at Balasore," Helaram Malik said.

As soon as he found out, Helaram informed the families of two others who were accompanying his son and left for Balasore by road.  "I left for the spot by road. My son contacted me again from another phone saying that he has been hospitalised. But he could not tell me clearly where he exactly was."

In Balasore, Helaram went from hospital to hospital, looking for Biswajit and his two friends. The number he had called from was switched off.

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"Suddenly, my son called me again from another number with the exact location of the hospital. I rushed there and found him. He had some issues with his legs and hands," Helaram told India Today TV. He could trace one of his son's friends. The other is still missing. 

The doctors who were on duty advised Helaram to take his son to Bhubaneswar for further treatment. But he wanted to be back in Kolkata. After discussing with the doctors, Helaram got his son discharged from the hospital by signing a bond and brought him home, from where he was taken to the state-run SSKM hospital in Kolkata.

Biswajit is now out of danger and continues to undergo treatment at the hospital's trauma care unit.

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Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the hospital on Monday afternoon and met those injured in the accident. 

"My son is doing better now. I am thankful to all the locals who rescued him from the spot and took him to the hospital," Helaram Malik told India Today TV.

At least 278 people have died in the June 2 crash involving two passenger trains and a freight train. Over 1,100 have been injured.

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2023-06-06T11:42:05Z dg43tfdfdgfd