Almost every minute, the siren of an ambulance outside Fakir Mohan Medical College and Hospital announced the arrival in the emergency room of a new group of wounded, most of them seriously injured in the eastern state of Odisha.

Doctors had to make diagnoses in a hurry, hoping to save some and giving up for others.

"War situation"

"All the patients had severe trauma, with head injuries, amputated limbs, chest injuries and breathing difficulties," the 35-year-old doctor said.

Others were on the verge of death when some had already expired. Saving lives was the priority. "But there was too much haste," he said.

The teams "had to decide who to give the highest priority," he admits, that is, those who had the greatest chance of survival.

"You don't have to say it but, as a doctor, you know when a patient won't survive," he said.

Friday had gone as usual when all medical staff received a requisition message, even calling on people on leave to go to the hospital immediately.

The doctor knew it was a train accident but he did not expect this magnitude, "could not have imagined it".

He "worked tirelessly as the evening turned into night and then the next day too."

Medical teams took care of "400 to 500" people on Friday night, he said, "although we didn't count but ambulances were pouring in."

"We stabilized patients and sent them to intensive care. The least critical cases were transferred to orthopedics," he continues, "anyone with head and chest injuries was transported to surgery."

Families still searching for loved ones missing in train disaster that killed at least 288 people in India © Punit PARANJPE / AFP

Life-saving blood donations

Blood donations by residents of the midnight city "really helped," he said, as well as the supply department that worked through the night to make sure all the necessary medicines were available.

At least 275 people lost their lives in the crash and of the 1,175 injured, 382 were still being treated at various hospitals in the state on Monday.

Those in critical condition were transferred to large, better-equipped hospitals in the state capital Bhubaneswar region, but many were admitted to Balasore Hospital.

On Monday, it was still crowded with survivors and relatives looking for loved ones, besides the ordinary sick.

Local medical staff have continued to work overtime since the collision and it will take a few more days before the situation stabilizes.

It was the day off of Kshitiz Guglani, a 25-year-old orthopedist, requisitioned like the other staff. He has barely given himself a break since.

Most "patients have polytrauma," he says.

Anil Marandi, 29, a tribal worker from Jharkhand, showed staff at the main help desk passport photos of his brother, brother-in-law and a friend, who were travelling on one of the express trains.

Anil Marandi, a Jharkhand tribal worker, has managed to find the bodies of two family members killed in the train disaster that hit India but is still looking for a third missing relative © Punit PARANJPE / AFP

"I have only found two bodies so far," he said in tears. "I'm always looking for the third."

© 2023 AFP