Tales of relief, uncertainty and woe after train accident

Off the track

To the great relief of the couple from Poland, Ola and Kamil, who were injured in the Bengaluru-Ernakulam Express train accident on Friday, Ola’s leg might not be amputated, according to doctors at Sparsh Hospital here.

Ola was rushed to the hospital on Friday afternoon and after she underwent initial tests, sources had said that her leg might have to be amputated. However, doctors from Sparsh Hospital, where Ola is being treated, said her condition is now stable. “Initially, we thought we would have to amputate her leg as she was grievously injured. But then, we consulted our specialists, who assured that a surgery would salvage the limb,” said Dr Ramesh, Manager, Sparsh Hospitals. Ola was operated upon yesterday and is now in the ICU for observation. It was a Valentine’s Day trip gone terribly wrong for the couple -  Kamil K Klebanski and Ola Ryzczak. The couple, who had travelled across the country, had decided to celebrate their Valentine’s in Kerala. Destiny, however, had something else in store for them.

To add to their anguish, the couple were admitted to two different private hospitals in the City on Friday, leaving them with not much knowledge of the whereabouts of each other till evening. The doctors from Sparsh Hospitals also informed that most of the injured had been discharged. Sharmila, who lost her nine-year-old son Aman in the accident, is still admitted in the ICU. She is also said to be suffering from jaundice, making it a challenging case for the doctors to handle. “She has to undergo a pelvic bone surgery and her condition is still fragile. We are waiting for sometime to do the surgery,” he said.

Selvaraj and his wife Vasantha Mani are also being treated in the same hospital. “Mani has a pelvic fracture and a minor head injury, while Selvaraj has a head injury,” said a Railways official.

The condition of four other accident victims admitted to Narayana Health City is stable. “They were all patients residing in North Bengaluru. The families requested that they be discharged as it was not convenient for them to travel so far,” said a hospital source. However, Railways officials said that Saleem, one of the injured, is in a critical condition and would be operated upon.

Bodies cremated
The bodies of all the nine deceased have been handed over to their families. While Aman and C R Venugopal were cremated in the City from where they hailed, the bodies of others were airlifted. Bodies of Irsha Manaf, 24-year-old student based in Bengaluru, and Delhi-based Naseem Khan have been airlifted to Kolkata.