Father who refused to believe his son died in Odisha train tragedy finds him alive in morgue: Report

Helaram Malik undertook a journey of more than 230 kilometers in an ambulance to Balasore, where he found his son in a makeshift morgue - and miraculously, alive

An ambulance carrying the dead bodies of victims of the train collision drive pasts a railway crossing, in Balasore district of Odisha, June 4, 2023. Credit: Reuters Photo

A father's unwavering belief that his son was alive in the face of his reported death in the Odisha train tragedy led him to undertake a journey of more than 230 kilometers in an ambulance to Balasore, where he found his son in a makeshift morgue -- and miraculously, alive -- reported The Times of India on Monday.

Helaram Malik, a shopkeeper from West Bengal's Howrah, dropped off his son, 24-year-old Biswajit, at Kolkata's Shalimar (SHM) station on June 2, only to learn of the tragedy a few hours later. When he called Biswajit, Helaram received a weak response, indicating that his son was alive but in severe pain.

Helaram immediately contacted a local ambulance driver named Palash Pandit and requested his brother-in-law, Dipak Das, to accompany him. Together, they embarked on a journey to Balasore that very night, covering a distance of over 230 kilometers. However, despite their efforts, they were unable to locate Biswajit in any of the hospitals they visited.

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They were advised to go to the Bahanaga High School which officials were using as a makeshift morgue. Helaram did not want to believe that the worst could have happened but went anyway. That is when they found Biswajit, who caused quite a commotion by moving his hand when everyone thought he'd been brought in dead.

"We never gave up," Dipak Das told the publication. "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."

Das recounted that upon arriving at the temporary morgue, they were met with the distressing sight of numerous lifeless bodies.

"We immediately drove him in the ambulance to the Balasore hospital, where he was given some injections. Given his condition, they referred him to Cuttack Medical College Hospital, but we signed a bond and got him discharged," Das added.

Helaram, Das and Pandit then carried an unconscious Biswajit to the Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital (SSKM) in Kolkata for resuscitation and further medical treatment.

Forensic Medicine expert Somnath Das told the publication that Biswajit suffers from a condition known as "suspended animation", in which a person's vital signs are significantly reduced to the bare minimum.