A father’s refusal to accept his son’s death in the Odisha train accident led to a miraculous reunion that defied all odds in a heartwarming story of unwavering hope and relentless determination. The extraordinary journey of this father unfolded as he embarked on a 230-kilometer journey to Balasore, eventually bringing his son safely back home to Kolkata, according to TOI.
A triple train crash involving two express trains and a goods train occurred in the Balasore district on Friday, killing at least 275 people and injuring over 1100 others. Biswajit Malik, a twenty-four-year-old passenger on the ill-fated Coromandel Express, was among the victims.
Helaram Malik, a shopkeeper from Howrah, learned of the train disaster in Odisha just hours after dropping off his son, Biswajit, at Shalimar station to board the Coromandel Express. In response to the news, Helaram immediately called his 24-year-old son on his cellphone.
Despite his pain, Biswajit answered the phone with a feeble voice, conveying that he was still alive but in a lot of pain.
Helaram sprang into action without missing a beat. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, he contacted Palash Pandit, a local ambulance driver, and decided to travel 230 kilometers to the crash site in Balasore, Odisha. Helaram arrived in Balasore late Friday night, accompanied by his brother-in-law, Dipak Das.
Despite searching all the hospitals in the area where train crash victims were being treated, Helaram was unable to locate his son.
“We never gave up,” Das told reporters. “We went around asking people, hoping to get leads on where to go next. One person told us that if we could not find anyone in hospital, we should look at the Bahanaga high school, where the bodies were kept. We could not accept it, but went anyway.”
An unexpected disturbance erupted within the gloomy atmosphere at the makeshift morgue, with the right hand of an accident victim, presumed dead, trembling uncontrollably. Biswajit was the man in question.
The 24-year-old was knocked out and suffered serious injuries in the crash. His father and uncle rushed him into an ambulance and drove him to Balasore hospital, where he was treated.