BHUBANESWAR: One more passenger of the ill-fated Coromandel Express succumbed to injuries on Tuesday taking the death toll in the Odisha train tragedy to 289. The deceased Bijaya Paswan (35) was from Motihari in Bihar. With a cervical spine injury, he was admitted to SCB medical college and hospital at Cuttack. He developed sudden cardiac arrest at about 7.30 am while undergoing treatment.
“The patient was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and administered adrenaline injection after he developed sudden cardiac arrest. In spite of repeated efforts of CPR the patient could not be revived and declared clinically dead around 9.50 am,” SCB MCH said in a statement. Hospital sources said Paswan was shifted to SCB MCH from Balasore at 6.30 am on June 3. He was paralysed from the neck down. He was given all required emergency treatment.
“Family members of the patient were with him during the treatment. Free transport has been provided for shifting of the dead body of the deceased to his native place,” said an official of SCB MCH. Earlier, 288 passengers were killed and 920 injured in the accident. While 208 bodies have been handed over to their family members, 81 unidentified bodies have been stored at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. Altogether 75 people have given their DNA samples for cross-matching.
Of the 829 passengers eligible for ex-gratia and compensation, over 700 have been provided with the aid. As many as 155 injured passengers are now undergoing treatment at different hospitals. Meanwhile, the CBI is grilling five employees, including the assistant station manager of Bahanaga Bazar station under South Eastern Railway (SER), in connection with the train crash.