Odisha train accident: Mamata meets injured patients in Cuttack

Cuttack, June 6 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday visited injured passengers of the ill-fated Coromandel Express who are currently admitted in different hospitals in Cuttack.

She visited the eye and surgery department of SCB Medical College and Hospital and interacted with the patients and assured them of all possible help.

“We are trying to help the injured passengers in all possible ways and had already dispatched teams of doctors, nurses and officers to take care of the injured passengers on the night of the accident on June 2,” she told reporters here.

Banerjee said there are 57 injured passengers from West Bengal in SCB Medical College.

“Some have lost their limbs, some of them have lost their eyes. It’s such a tragedy that cannot be described through words,” she told reporters.

The Bengal Chief Minister said 103 bodies of passengers from West Bengal who died have so far been identified while 30 were still missing.

“I have already announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh for the critically injured. Around 900 people who were travelling in the train and are going through mental and physical stress will be given Rs 10,000,” she said.

Banerjee said that she wants the truth behind the crash to come out. “I want to be with the people. Many lives have been lost and it is very important that the truth comes out,” she added.

Banerjee was accompanied by Women and Child Development minister Shashi Panja and Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharjee.

Both the ministers visited injured passengers admitted in AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose visited Basanti in South 24-Parganas to meet families of the passengers who died in the triple train accident on June 2.

“It is an extremely sad situation. It is a case of human misery. This is the time when one should stand for all and all for one,” he told reporters.

He said both the State and Central governments have announced compensations for the victims of the tragedy.

The Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary goods train, derailing most of its coaches at 7 pm on June 2. In all some 287 people died in the accident and more than 1200 were injured.

A few coaches of Coromandel toppled over the last few coaches of the Bengaluru-Howrah Express which was passing by at the same time.

Investigators are looking into possible human error, signal failure and other possible causes behind the three-train crash.