Anxiety grips the families of those missing after two trains collided in India’s Balasore district, leaving 16 dead and over 100 injured. Many families have resorted to frantically searching hospitals in the region to try and locate their loved ones. Suraj Kumar, who was injured in the accident, has been urging authorities to contact his family and inform them he is alive and receiving treatment in the Eye department of SCB Medical College and Hospital. Those who have been unable to locate their missing relatives have expressed their despair, like Sarifuddin Shaikh of West Bengal, who searched for his nephew for over one-and-a-half hours at the hospital. He had spoken to his nephew Safikul Shaikh just an hour before the accident, after which his phone was apparently switched off and he has not been heard from since.
141 patients are currently undergoing treatment at SCB MCH, with 10 in critical condition in the ICU. The hospital’s administrative officer, Abinash Rout, has said that surgeries are being carried out day and night, but surgeons have to wait for the patient’s blood sugar and blood pressure to come to normal before operating.
