The railway disaster in Balasore, Odisha, claimed the lives of three brothers from West Bengal. The son of one of the victim said “Our family is devastated” after the tragic crash.
The railway disaster in Balasore, Odisha, claimed the lives of three brothers from the South 24 Parganas region of West Bengal who were en route to Tamil Nadu in quest of employment, according to officials.
Residents of Charanikhali hamlet in Basanti Uttar, Haran Gayen (40), Nishikant Gayen (35) and Dibakar Gayen (32), often spent the most of the year in the southern state and worked menial jobs there. They returned home a few days ago, and they were taking the Coromandel Express back to Tamil Nadu to look for job as agricultural laborers.
A sense of doom settled over the village as word of their deaths spread. As neighbors continued to comfort them, their spouses passed out. Locals reported that Anajita, Haran’s wife, is a neurological sufferer and that her current medical care is in doubt. He is survived by two daughters who are married and a son who recently began working at a nearby restaurant.
In addition to his wife, Nishikant is survived by his two small children, a daughter and a boy. Along with his wife, Dibakar is survived by two boys.
Avijit, the son of Haran, sobbed inconsolably, “Our family is devastated, my father and uncles are no longer with us.”
According to authorities, the incident on Friday night claimed the lives of 12 residents of the region.
They said that a total of 110 residents from the district were hurt, 44 were missing, and 16 had already returned to their houses.
Six of those killed are from Basanti block, including the three brothers, two are from Kakdwip, and one is from each of the following blocks: Joynagar-2, Baruipur, Canning-1, and Magrahat-1. The majority of the district’s casualties were migrant laborers, but the remainder sought care in Bengaluru, according to officials.
One of the biggest rail catastrophes in the nation, the accident near Balasore involving three trains—the Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, and a freight train—lead to the deaths of 288 persons.
