Suri, West Bengal:
A physically and mentally challenged teenager cried inconsolably outside the morgue in Suri Sadar Hospital in Birbhum district, where the body of his mother along with that of other victims of the train collision in Sainthia station were kept.
The boy, Raju Mondal, refused to talk or eat anything since his mother, Kamli Devi, died.
Raju, a resident of Bhagalpur in Bihar, was being taken by his mother to a mental hospital in Ranchi on the Vananchal Express, his father Jagdambi Mondal, who rushed to the hospital from Bhagalpur, said.
Though mentally challenged, Raju, who suffered a minor cut on his toe, pulled his seriously injured mother out of the damaged compartment and brought her to Suri, 45 km from the accident site, in an ambulance with the help of paramedics, Jagdambi, a daily labourer, said.
"Kamli Devi died of her injuries last night and since then Raju has gone into a trance and has been crying. He has stopped eating. I cannot communicate with him," Jagdambi said.
In another corner Prasenjit from Manikchak in Malda district cried over the loss of his brother.
Prasanta Saha, who was travelling by the Vananchal express to Dhanbad in search of work, was seriously injured and died of his injuries last night at the hospital, his younger brother, Prasenjit, said.
"My brother was only 23. Did he have to die? he asked.
Sanjiv Kumar, a 20-year-old, who was travelling from Khagaria in Bihar to Andal in West Bengals Burdwan district was also killed. His body and face were badly disfigured in the accident.
His uncle, Ganesh Pandit, said that the body did resemble that of his nephew, but since the face was disfigured, he was waiting for the parents to come and positively identify him.
Coffins were lined up in a row before the morgue for family members to take away the bodies of their near and dear ones after identification.