Cuttack: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Tuesday injured passengers of the ill-fated Coromandel Express who are currently admitted in different hospitals in Cuttack. Mamata Banerjee visited the eye and surgery departments of SCB Medical College and Hospital and interacted with the patients. She assured them of all possible help.
“We are trying to help the injured passengers in all possible ways. We had already dispatched teams of doctors, nurses and officers to take care of the injured passengers on the night of the accident June 2,” Banerjee told reporters here.
Banerjee said there are 57 injured passengers from West Bengal in SCB Medical College. “Some have lost their limbs, some of them have lost their eyes. It’s such a tragedy that cannot be described through words,” Mamata Banerjee told reporters.
The chief minister said 103 bodies of passengers from West Bengal who died have so far been identified while 30 were still missing.
“I have already announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh for the critically injured. Around 900 people who were travelling in the train and are going through mental and physical stress will be given Rs 10,000 each,” informed Banerjee.
Banerjee said that she wants the truth behind the crash to come out. “I want to be with the people. Many lives have been lost and it is very important that the truth comes out,” she said.
Banerjee was accompanied by West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja and Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharjee. Both the ministers visited injured passengers admitted in AIIMS Bhubaneswar.
The Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary goods train, derailing most of its coaches at 7.00pm June 2. In all some 287 people died in the accident and more than 1200 were injured. Investigators are looking into possible human error, signal failure and other possible causes behind the three-train crash.