Father finds son alive in a morgue ‘under a pile of bodies’ after India train accident
A drone view shows derailed coaches after trains collided in Balasore district, Odisha, India. Reuters
In a harrowing story, a father found his son alive but buried under a pile of bodies at a makeshift morgue for the ill-fated Coromandel Express accident.
The son was presumed dead by authorities and was placed at the makeshift morgue.
The train triple accident left 275 dead and over 1000 injured on June 2.
The father travelled 230-kilometre to Balasore to find his 24-year-old son in Odisha.
The father, Helaram Mallik, told the media that his son Biswajit boarded the Coromandel Express and was mistaken for dead. He was put under a pile of bodies placed upon him.
Helaram said he phoned his son to confirm he was alive.
The son told father he was in pain.
The father then embarked on a 230-kilometre journey to Balasore.
The relentless efforts of the father located the son in a makeshift morgue.
Mallik pulled his young son from the morgue at Bahanaga High School and rushed him to Balasore Hospital before bringing him to a hospital in Kolkata, local media reported.
Doctors at Kolkata hospital said that the son suffered multiple bone injuries and underwent surgeries at the trauma care unit.
The father told local media that the son boarded the Coromandel Express and was travelling to Chennai from Santragachi in Kolkata for work.
The father said, “At around 7.30 am local time, the son told me that the train had met with an accident. He lost his senses after he called me.”
The son later said that bodies were placed upon him thinking he was dead.
He regained consciousness and waved his hand to show to the people he was alive.
The surprised people pulled him from the morgue and took him to the hospital in Balasore.
The father was reunited with his son in Balasore.
The disaster struck on June 2, when a passenger train hit a stationary freight train, jumped the tracks and hit another passenger train passing in the opposite direction near the district of Balasore in the eastern state of Odisha.
The authorities said the ill-fated Coromandel Express is all set to resume services from Wednesday.
