New Delhi: The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has started major counselling and mental stability courses for their officials, who have returned from completing the rescue operation from the Balasore triple-train accident recently. Director General of the premier disaster response agency Atul Karwal said on Tuesday that an NDRF personnel deployed in the rescue operation at Balasore has been hallucinating blood every time he sees water while another rescuer reported losing his appetite.
“I met my personnel, who were involved in the rescue operation following the Balasore train accident. One person told me that he hallucinated blood every time he saw water. Another said he has lost his appetite post this rescue operation,” said Karwal while addressing the annual conference on Capacity Building for Disaster Response-2023 here in New Delhi.
Also read:Odisha train crash: 40 Coromandel Express passengers may have died of electrocution
The psychological counselling and mental stability courses of the NDRF are a strategy to remove extra pressure and tensions post-rescue and relief operations. As many as nine NDRF teams were deployed for rescue operations following a fatal train accident in Odisha’s Balasore district recently. More than 278 people lost their lives and more than 900 were injured.
Meanwhile, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw attended a crucial meeting with senior officials of the Railway Ministry, along with general managers of all zones of Indian railways. Sources privy to the meeting told ETV Bharat that the meeting primarily focused on safety drills in zones and focus on signalling and telecom across the railway network. The Railway Minister first held a meeting with senior officials of the Railway Ministry, Railway Board, which was later followed by a meeting with all the zonal general managers. Till the filling of this report, the Railway Minister's meeting with the general managers was going on.
