Four days since India's deadliest rail crash in over two decades, which killed 278 people and injured over a thousand in Odisha's Balasore, over a hundred bodies are yet to be identified. NDTV visited the mortuary of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bhubaneswar, where distressed family members and friends of those still missing are struggling to identify the bodies from a slideshow of pictures of disfigured bodies playing before them. Several stayed glued to the screen, as the pictures kept repeating, frustrated that they couldn't identify the bodies from the pictures being shown.
The horrific crash has left many limbless and severely disfigured, and high-tension electrical wire overhead also reportedly charred some bodies beyond recognition, which is one of the major reasons families are having trouble identifying the bodies.
"Our boy was on the train during the accident. We have come here to identify the body, but are unable to. We have been looking at the pictures but can't identify our boy's body," the father said, narrating that they heard about the accident two days later. The boy boarded the train from Howrah and was headed to Chennai, he said. Four men from the family of the victim, from Samastipur in Bihar, took the same journey to reach the body -- they travelled to Howrah, got on a train, and arrived in Balasore, the tragically unplanned last stop of the boy, this morning.
Another man from West Bengal said he also couldn't identify the body from the pictures.
Six people of a family, from Bihar's Madhubani district, were on the train during the three-train collision. Their relative, Mohammad Tahir, said he found one dead body, but five were still missing. Pictures weren't of any help.
Arvind Chaudhary from Bihar's Khagaria district has been looking for his uncle. "We have visited two-three hospitals so far, but haven't been able to locate him. Doctors told us that if their picture is not being displayed for identification, it means they are alive somewhere," he said. A security force personnel standing nearby said he has been assisting Mr Chaudhary by providing him with the names of people under treatment at various hospitals, but his uncle is untraceable so far.
Rakesh Yadav from Bihar's Darbhanga has been looking for his brother for two days now without success. He said he found the body of someone from his village at the fifth hospital he visited yesterday, but his brother is still missing. "Some names and pictures aren't on the hospital lists. But when I reached the fifth out of six hospitals I went to yesterday, they showed me a picture separately and asked me to identify it. It was a person from my village," Mr Yadav said.
Family members of those missing have camped at the AIIMS compound in the hope that they'll get more information about their loved ones.
Officials on Monday said that there are still 101 bodies yet to be identified.
Talking to news agency ANI, Divisional Railway Manager of the Eastern Central Railways Rinkesh Roy said that around 200 people are still being treated in various hospitals in Odisha.
"About 1,100 people were injured in the accident, out of which about 900 people were discharged after treatment. Around 200 people are being treated in various hospitals in the state. Out of 278 people who died in the accident, 101 bodies are yet to be identified," Mr Roy told ANI.
Vijay Amrit Kulange, Commissioner, of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation told ANI, "Of the total 193 bodies kept in Bhubaneswar, 80 bodies have been identified. 55 bodies have been handed over to the relatives. More than 200 calls have been received on BMC's helpline number 1929. The dead bodies are being identified and handed over to the relatives."
The railways, in coordination with the Odisha government, has prepared three online links with photos of those killed and lists of passengers admitted to different hospitals.
The railways has appealed to people to use the three links -- link of photos of the deceased, link of lists of passengers undergoing treatment in different hospitals, and link of unidentified persons under treatment at SCB Cuttack.
It also said that Railway Helpline number 139 is working round the clock for connecting the families/ relatives of passengers affected in this rail accident. Helpline 139 is being manned by senior officials. Also, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Helpline number 18003450061/1929 is also working 24x7.
The railways has said that according to the initial investigation, the accident was the result of a signalling problem and there was no collision.
Some railway experts have, however, questioned whether Coromandel Express may have hit the goods train directly inside a "loop line". Visuals show the Coromandel Express's engine resting on top of the goods train, indicating a straight collision.
The train crash will be investigated by the CBI. The move is significant as sources say only a detailed probe by a top agency can establish criminal tampering, if any, with the point machine or the electronic interlocking system, or if the train changed tracks due to reconfiguration or a signalling error.
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