BENGALURU: For the past two months, there has been an increase in unnatural deaths occurring in trains or platforms in Karnataka. This is due to Covid-19 patients choosing to die inside trains or on the tracks, said the Government railway police (GRP).
On Monday, GR P head constable M Nagaraju performed the last rites for Bantulal Bain, a 48-year-old porter who died on a train from Bengaluru to Hyderabad. “As his family could not afford the transportation cost to take his body home, they requested Railways to help out,” said a GRP release. Bain died on May 21 and the postmortem revealed he was Covid positive, a source said. This trend of Covid-positive people losing their lives after boarding trains, inside the railway station or on the tracks, was noticed during the second wave, said a source.
“It was only after the postmortem reports revealed they were Covid patients that we concluded there was a link between the pandemic and the deaths. It could also be a case of a body being deliberately abandoned on the tracks by families,” he added. They are classified under ‘unnatural deaths’ initially until the postmortem reveals their Covid status.
“We have recorded 14 deaths of Covid patients in April and May within the Bengaluru Division alone,” the source added. Six of them were found dead inside trains while one was found in a train’s toilet, the source said. “In many cases the family is unwilling to claim the body and our police perform the last rites,” the source said.
Asked about the possibility of Covid patients boarding trains, Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager, A K Verma said that the entrances to KSR as well as Yesvantpur railway stations had thermal scanners. “However, a Covid patient could have many other symptoms and not just high fever. I do not think that a person on the verge of dying can board a train and travel,” he added.