BHUBANESWAR: One more passenger injured in the train crash at Bahanaga in Balasore district died while undergoing treatment at SCB medical college and Hospital at Cuttack on Saturday taking the death toll in the tragedy to 291.
The passenger Sohim Mansoor (33) from Roshanpur in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar was admitted to the trauma ICU of the hospital. With multiple fractures in their legs and hands and internal bleeding in organs like the kidney, he had been battling for life.
SCB MCH superintendent Dr Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra said the patient died due to cardiac arrest. Earlier, two passengers had succumbed to their injuries. Both were from Bihar. The victims were returning home from their workplaces in the ill-fated Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express that was hit by Coromandel Express at Bahanaga Bazaar station on June 2.
Dr Mishra said the condition of three more passengers undergoing treatment in the ICU is critical. Of the 46 patients admitted to the hospital, 13 are in the ICU and the rest are in different wards, he added. As 81 bodies are yet to be identified, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar has urged the New Delhi-based Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) to complete the DNA profiling and cross-matching of 15 bodies, which have more than one claimant, at the earliest.
“The relatives of the train crash victims have already identified the 15 bodies and are camping here awaiting DNA reports. We are unable to hand over their bodies due to multiple claimants. The bodies can be handed over if the reports reach early,” said an AIIMS official.
Meanwhile, loco pilot Gunanidhi Mohanty and assistant loco pilot Hajari Behera have been discharged from a private hospital, where they were undergoing treatment, after successful surgeries. They had multiple fractures.