A senior Bangladeshi diplomat, Sheikh Marefat Ali Islam, on Sunday, visited Soro Hospital in Odisha’s Balasore to provide consular assistance to Bangladeshi nationals injured in the triple train crash on Friday. A few Bangladeshi passengers were recuperating in different hospitals in Odisha, but there was no news of the death of any citizen in the accident, Islam told news agency PTI. “One Bangladeshi passenger admitted at a Bhadrak hospital was discharged after treatment. Another has been referred to SCB Medical College in Cuttack,” he said.
“On Saturday, I visited a Balasore hospital,” he said.
275 people were reported dead and over a thousand injured after three trains — Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, SMVT Bengaluru–Howrah SF Express, and a freight train — collided after Coromandel Express derailed near Bahanaga railway station in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday night.
“If there’s any information on injured Bangladeshi patients, please dial our deputy high commission at Kolkata - 9038353533,” Marefat, second secretary in the Bangladesh deputy high commission which looks after eastern India, added.
“Several unclaimed bodies are lying in a few hospitals in Bhubaneswar. We will have to find out if there are any Bangladeshis among them,” he added.
The diplomat thanked the Odisha government for providing support in tracing the Bangladeshi citizens in the accident.
Around 20 lakh Bangladeshis visit India every year mainly for treatment, with many of them preferring medical institutions in southern states, stated the news agency.
The Railways board on Sunday said that the goods train that was involved in the Odisha triple train accident was carrying iron ore which led to a huge number of casualties and injuries. Jaya Varma Sinha, Member of Operation and Business Development, Railway Board said that the freight train did not derail but since it was carrying iron ore and the maximum impact was on Coromandel Express.