The driver of the bus, Achyutananda Sarangi, in hospital. Picture by Pabitra Das

Jan. 28: Friends and relatives of victims spent the entire day running from one hospital to another, but most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition.

Soon after news of the bus accident reached Baripada, anxious relatives started reaching the accident site in search of passengers travelling in the ill-fated bus. However, on reaching the spot they discovered that survivors had been rushed to different hospitals and there were no bodies on the spot either.

SURVIVORS Name Age Admitted to Uluberia SD Hospital Fuleswar Bindhari (F) 32 Raibari Bindhari (F) 28 Nikhilesh (M) 25 Lamdara Patra (M) 20 Madan Patra (M) 33 Mahendra Bindhari (M) 25 Shifted to SSKM Hospital Anish Bhudhadev (M) 32 Khalek (M) 60 Admitted to Gabberia State General Hospital Provakar Raj (M) 32 Ambika P. Yadav (M) 35 Admitted to Howrah General Hospital Ramdayal Yadav (M) 28 Shifted to Calcutta Medical College and Hospital Achyutananda Sarangi (M)   Ramdhan Roy (M) 28 Released Adhikari Nayek (M) 40 Nabin Das (M) 35 Basanta Behra (M) 30 Unhurt Prasanta Sethi (M) 29 Purnendu B. Behra (M) 25 For information, call Panchla 26616277 26616527 Howrah 26604195

The injured had been admitted to the Uluberia sub-divisional hospital, the Gabberia hospital and the Howrah General Hospital.

“One of my relatives from Calcutta rang me around 7 am and told me about the accident. My son, Sankarshan Behra, and his friend, Ranjan Jana, were travelling in the bus. I hired a Tata Sumo and rushed to Calcutta with some of my friends. Neither police nor the block development officer of Panchla could offer any information about my son. The doctors here advised me to go to the Howrah morgue and enquire about him there,” said Ashok Kumar Behra.

Badal Dalui arrived in Calcutta by bus in search of his brother, Bimal, but failed to trace him. Having failed to locate his brother in any hospital or the Howrah morgue, Badal returned to the Uluberia hospital.

“I do not know whether my brother is alive or dead. The hospital authorities told me he was not admitted here and I could not identify anyone at the morgue because the bodies were just charred lumps. I returned to Uluberia to see if he is admitted later,” Badal said. His friends convinced him to return and check carefully at the Howrah morgue.

Suman Patra was lucky to discover that his son, Madan, had survived the accident and had been admitted to the Uluberia hospital. “One of my relatives in Calcutta informed me over telephone that a bus from Baripada was involved in an accident. Without telling anyone at home, I left for Calcutta by hitching a ride on a truck,” he said, sitting next to his son.