CUTTACK: Suraj Kumar (19) of Basudevpur in Bihar has been urging the administration to inform his family back home he is alive and safe.
Kumar, who was injured in the train mishap at Bahanaga in Balasore district, is undergoing treatment at the ward of the Eye department of SCB Medical College and Hospital. He said his mobile phone went missing after the mishap and he does not remember the phone number of any of his family members or relative.
While Kumar is anxious of his loved ones’ concern, several people are unable to trace their kin who were travelling in the ill-fated trains. Sarifuddin Shaikh (45) of Murshidabad in West Bengal who along with his five other relatives reached SCB Medical College and Hospital at 1 pm on Monday failed to trace his nephew Safikul Shaikh alias Mirazul despite a frantic search of over one-and-a-half hour.
Shaikh said Safikul (25) worked as a mason and was returning home in a general compartment of Coromandel Express. He had even talked with his family members just an hour before the mishap. “His mobile phone has remained switched off after the mishap. We have already searched for him at hospitals in Balasore, Soro and AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. His name is not mentioned either in the list of dead or injured. Oh Allah! Keep him alive,” wailed Shaikh.
Of the 141 victims undergoing treatment at SCB MCH, the condition of 10, undergoing treatment at ICUs is critical. Doctors have so far conducted surgeries on 27. “Surgeries are being conducted day and night. But the surgeons have to wait for the patients’ blood sugar, blood pressure and other vital parameters to come to normal,” said SCB MCH administrative officer Abinash Rout.