Tiya Haldar, a four-month-old baby who escaped unhurt from the Jnaneswari Express accident, is lucky to be back with her mother Ranjana (30) and elder sister Sujata (5), who were both injured critically. Shifted from the accident site by helicopter to Midnapore on Friday, they were transferred to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata on Saturday.
In fact, it was in the helicopter that Tiya was joined with her mother and sister as Ranjana and Sujata were unconscious when they were rescued from the S-3 compartment, and the security personnel failed to identify Tiya’s parents after she was taken out from the damaged compartment. Although they were rescued by different groups, the three were shifted by the same helicopter from the accident site. Ranjana recognised her baby lying in the lap of one policeman when she regained consciousness.
“Tiya is fortunate that she was shifted in the same helicopter along with her mother and sister. Otherwise, Tiya would have lost her mother too,” said Niranjan Roy, Tiya’s maternal uncle. While Ranjana was hurt in the leg, Sujata suffered a head injury.
However, Tiya lost her father, Bablu. Five of her family had boarded the train at Howrah on Thursday night. Bablu’s younger brother Shankar — they both worked in a private company in Mumbai — was also killed in the accident.
Now, Tiya is spreading happiness in CIB ward of the SSKM Hospital under the care of nurses, who fed her and played with her on Sunday.
As for Ranjana, she enquired about her husband repeatedly. “But she was not told the truth as per the doctor’s advice,” Roy said.
