Bahanaga Train tragedy: 28 Bodies Yet to be Identified

BHUBANESWAR: Even after three months of the tragic train tragedy at Bahanaga in Odisha’s Balasore district, 28 bodies are yet to be identified.

As many as 296 persons were killed in the train tragedy that took place on June 2. All 28 bodies have been preserved inside a special deep freezer chamber at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar.

As per AIIMS authorities, there were a total of 81 bodies and 110 claimants. As many as 53 bodies were subsequently handed over after the necessary matching of the DNA samples.

It is surprising that no person has turned up at AIIMS Bhubaneswar to claim the bodies in the last 10 days.

“We have handed over bodies based on genetic tests and DNA test reports. At present, we have 28 bodies for which we have no claimants,” informed AIIMS Bhubaneswar superintendent, Dilip Parida.

Parida further said that they were awaiting instructions from the ministry of Railways and the Odisha government in this regard. CBI is the custodian of the bodies as it is investigating the case. We have only preserved the bodies here, he said.

“Whatever instruction is received, we will follow accordingly and hand over the bodies to CBI. We do not expect that anyone will come forward to claim bodies as no one has turned up in the last 10 days. All the bodies are preserved in a deep freezer and there is no problem as the decomposition process is usually stalled. We had conducted DNA sampling of 110 bodies after the Bahanaga train tragedy,” Parida added.

On June 2, the Coromandel Express hit a goods train resting on the loop line at Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore. At the same time, the Bengaluru-Howrah Express, which was passing on the downline was hit by the derailed coaches of Coromandel Express.

As many 296 passengers lost their lives and 176 sustained grievous injuries. Similarly, 451 suffered minor injuries and 180 received first aid treatment.