Tales of pain and agony converge at morgue

Bhubaneswar: When Raju Pandit from East Bardhaman district in West Bengal heard about the accident, he hoped with all his heart that his elder brother who was on Coromandel Express, would answer his call.
His brother, travelling with two others, never called back. A desperate Raju rushed to Balasore and after five hours of struggle, found that his brother had died in the accident. While one of his companions survived and is undergoing treatment treated at Soro community centre, the whereabouts of the third is unknown.
“I was able to contact my brother’s friend, who is being treated at Soro community centre. There is no whereabouts of another person who was travelling with him. I don’t how to tell the surviving friend about my brother’s death,” Raju said and thanked the volunteers, who provided him with water and dry food.
His brother’s body, which was kept at the mortuary of Balasore district headquarters hospital, was handed over to Raju on Saturday evening after completion of formalities.
Like Raju, relatives of victims broke down after receiving the bodies of their loved ones from the mortuary. Several fainted and were revived by volunteers. Biswanath Pandit from West Bengal has been handed over the bodies of two of his relatives but he is still looking for one more person. “I have been showing around his picture, identity card and address to the authorities. His family members are calling me time and again asking for any update but I have no answers,” Biswanath said.