Sagar Kheria of Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal went to Bengaluru three months ago to work at a hotel, and was returning home when the train tragedy in Odisha took away his life. Kheria, 30, even spoke to his parents around 6.45 pm on Friday, minutes before the triple train crash in Balasore district, a family member said on Saturday. He was among 14 people from Nagarakata block in the district who went together to Bengaluru in search of work, officials said.
While Kheria died in the tragedy, two people of the group were injured and the rest missing, they said. All of them were travelling on the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express. They were returning home for the first time, and were visibly happy, their distraught families said. The two injured persons were identified as Dharmanath Singh, 19, and Aman Onrao, 24. Aman is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kolkata, while Dharmanath is admitted at a hospital in Balasore, officials said. A team from Nagrakata is heading to Balasore in search of the 11 others of the group who went incommunicado after the accident, they said.
Kheria is survived by his parents, a brother and two sisters. His father works at the tea garden as labourer, they added. A pall of gloom descended on the area as the news of the accident came. The accident involving three trains -- Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train -- killed at least 261 people and injured more than 900, in one of the worst railway tragedies in the country.
