Man presumed dead after Odisha triple-train tragedy saved by a whisker. Here's his story

A man presumed dead and dumped into a pile of lifeless bodies in the aftermath of the deadly triple-train tragedy in Odisha, India had a lucky escape. Biswajit Malik, 24, was on the fateful Coromandel Express when the accident took place.

Soon after the collision, a barely conscious Malik, unaware of the injuries he had suffered, managed to ring his father Helaram Malik in Kolkata and inform him about the accident. Just after the phone call, Malik observed that his right wrist had almost been severed and that the ankle seemed broken too. Perhaps, shocked by the discovery and the excess blood loss, Malik lost consciousness and folded into the ground.

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“Immediately after the accident, it just went dark. I remember there was an unbearable pain in my right hand and my right leg was stuck between two seats that had crumped into one. I don’t remember how long I stayed like that,” Malik said.

The rescue workers on the spot, amid the pandemonium, shifted Malik to an adjacent field where dead bodies were being piled up.

With few bodies already dumped on him, Malik, still alive but barely conscious, was running out of time as his lungs suffocated. Mustering all the energy that remained, he feebly waved his left hand and accidentally touched upon a rescuer's feet, which turned out to be the divine moment separating him from life and death.

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Meanwhile, back in Kolkata, Malik's father informed his neighbours after his son’s phone call and set out on a road journey to rescue his son.

“We released him from the hospital and brought him back to Kolkata where he was admitted in the SSKM hospital on Sunday. He has already undergone a surgery on his wrist which was almost severed and is likely to undergo another surgery on his ankle very soon,” said the father.

As for the man that rescued him, Malik does not know his name or where he stays.

“This is my second life. But I haven’t been able to thank the person who pulled me out of the pile of dead bodies. He stayed with me for the next few hours but left before my father arrived. I may never know who he is,”

Malik is not the only one to have a miraculous escape from the clutches of death. Dulal Mazumdar, 35, hailing from the northeastern state of Assam was rescued from under the debris, 48 hours after the accident. Despite being trapped without food or water for two days, Mazumdar managed to survive.

Similarly, Robin Naiya, 35, was presumed dead and kept along withhundreds of bodies in a school room in Odisha's Balasore, close to the train accident site. When rescue workers entered the room, Naiya clutched a man's leg and feebly said,"I am alive, not dead, please give me water.”

Surprised initially, the rescue worker took Naiya out of the heap and rushed him to the hospital where he is now recuperating.

What happened in Odisha?

A collision between two passenger trains and a goods train in the eastern Indian state of Odisha's Balasore last week resulted in the tragic deaths of at least 288 people, with approximately 900 others sustaining injuries.

The Howrah Superfast Express derailed and became entangled with the Coromandel Express which had been accidentally diverted to the loop line where it collided with the stationary freight train, South Eastern Railway authorities said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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