Odisha train collision: Nearly 100 bodies await identification after fatal accident

Nearly 100 bodiesare still unclaimed five days after a devastating three-train collision in India's Odishaclaimed the lives of 275 people.Two passenger trains and a halted freight train were involved in the accident on Friday night in the state of Odisha.Hospitals received more than 1,000 wounded patients needing medical attention. Many families claim to be still searching for missing members.

This fatal collision wasIndia's deadliest train catastrophe of thecentury.

During the collision, a passenger train derailed after entering the incorrect loop track next to the main line and slammedinto a stationary freight train. The rear coaches of a second passenger train travelling in the other direction were then hit by its derailed carriages.

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The two trains were reportedly packed with more than 3,000 passengers each, according to sources.

Also watch |Odisha train crash: CBI probe in Odisha train crash begins, officials reach crash site

Families of passengers from Odisha and other states are swarming hospitals in a desperate attempt to learn more about their loved ones. However, finding the corpse in some instances is proving to be quite difficult.

Struggle to recognise and claim bodies

Muhammad Nizamuddin was unable to claim the remains of his grandchildren at the Balasore District Hospital in Odisha.When the Coromandel Express was involved in an accident, Tafsir Ansari, 16, and his brother Tausif, 13, were on board with their father, reported the BBC.

While the father is still missing, pictures of the teenagers and many other victims were projected onto a wall in the hospital with the Tafsir tags 20 and 169 for identification purposes.

The boys' injuries left their facial features deformed, but their grandfather claims he recognised them.

He then made arrangements to travel to Bhubaneswar, the capital of the state, where four hospitals are housing close to 100 unidentified dead, but he was stopped by a representative.

Tafsir's body had already been claimed by another family, the official told him, but it had not yet been sent to them.

"How is this possible? Do you mean that I won't recognise my grandchildren," a distraught Mr Nizamuddin told the BBC.

He has now been requested to get in touch with Bhubaneswar city officials who are in charge of verifying claims, confirming identifying documents, and taking action to ensure that the body is delivered to the correct family.

"If you go through the photo database, you'll see many of the bodies are damaged beyond recognition. They are also now decomposing," Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange told BBC.

He added that "unidentified bodies would be kept at the hospital mortuary for the next 10 days" and that "the government would not hurry to cremate or bury" them in cases where more than one family had claimed a body.

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