The bodies of more than 80 victims of the triple-train crash in Odisha’s Balasore are lying unidentified at AIIMS Bhubaneswar a week after the accident, officials at the hospital said.
The officials said the majority of the victims whose bodies have been identified at the facility are from Bengal.
“As of today, 82 bodies are lying unclaimed with us,” Raj Kishore Dash, public relations officer of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, told The Telegraph.
“The hospital had received the bodies of 162 victims of the train accident and 80 of them have been handed to the relatives after proper identification. Most of the victims are from Bengal.”
Many bodies have remained unclaimed because of the difficulty in identifying them. Some have disfigured, while others are difficult to identify because of the grievous injuries suffered by the victims.
Relatives of a number of victims said they identified the bodies on the basis of the belongings the deceased carried from home.
“Around 50 people have submitted their DNA samples following controversies over identification of bodies. We have sent 29 of the samples to Delhi for DNA matching and sequencing,” said an official at AIIMS Bhubaneswar. “There are instances of as many as five persons claiming one body.”
Among hospitals in Odisha, the maximum number of bodies were sent to AIIMS Bhubaneswar because it has large storage facilities.
Residents of Bahanaga Bazar, the site of the June 2 accident, said many relatives were still visiting the place in search of their near ones before going to hospitals to locate the bodies.
“Streams of people scoured the accident spot even till Wednesday in search of their near ones, even though all bodies have been removed from the area,” said Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Bahanaga.
“People who are working at the site say there is still a stench. Shayed body aabhi bhi hain udhar (Maybe bodies are still there). But no one is being allowed to enter the coaches (of the trains that were involved in the accident).”
Officials said those who are still trying to locate bodies should call either of the two toll-free helplines — 18003450061 and 1929.