Miracle recovery for Mumbai 7/11 blasts victim

Mumbai: For nearly five years, Parag Sawant was comatose; his life virtually written off.

Parag was travelling on a Virar-bound local train July 11, 2006, returning home after work when a bomb went off. It was one in a series of seven train blasts that rocked Mumbai that day killing nearly 200 people and injuring close to a thousand.

Parag suffered severe brain trauma and went into coma. He was 27 years old, his wife six months pregnant.

Parag went through several brain surgeries. His family never gave up, ensuring someone was always by his side in hospital.

"We never left him alone in these five years. Someone was always by his hospital bed," said Jaiprakash Sawant, Parag's father.

But he never responded to their presence, not even when his newborn daughter was held close to him.

But in 2008, he spoke a few words. And today, he has regained consciousness - something that's being seen as nothing short of a miracle.

"He speaks clearly. He also remembers events in the past, even things related to the blast," said Mr Jaiprakash.

Parag still needs months of physiotherapy before he can start walking.