When the situation is gradually limping back to normalcy after the horrific train accident at Bahanaga in Balasore district, a new crisis has crept in. There are tugs of war among many families over claiming the bodies of the victims in the accident.
Many family members had fought among themselves claiming some bodies of the victims on Monday. Similar incidents were also witnessed today.
One Upendra Kumar’s body from Jharkhand was identified by his friend on Monday. However, when the body returned after post-mortem, somebody else took away the body claiming that the body belonged to their relatives. Though Upendra’s friend complained about the matter, no solution has come out yet.
Meanwhile, some family members from Balasore are still searching for their kin.
“I had identified the body of my friend Upendra. Then we were told that the body has been sent for post-mortem. However, when the body returned after post-mortem, we found to our utter dismay that it has been taken by someone else,” said the deceased’s friend.
However, BMC Commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange refuted the allegations.
“Some of the bodies have been decomposed and those are not matching with the photos causing problems for the family members to identify. When the claimants are trying to identify the body on the basis of clothes and markings, confusion is being created. We have found these kinds of confusion in three-four cases. In those cases, DNA test is required for proper identification of the body,” said Kulange.
Meanwhile, a DNA testing centre has been opened at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bhubaneswar for identification of the passengers who died in the triple train accident.
As per reports, more than 10 families have given DNA samples to avoid confusion in the identification of the bodies. After getting the reports of DNA tests, bodies will be handed over to their respective families.
“As many as 64 bodies have been handed over to their respective family members after police verification. As many as 59 bodies have been preserved as no claimants have demanded those bodies so far. The criteria for identification of those bodies will be DNA test which will take time,” said AIIMS Bhubaneswar Superintendent Prabhas Ranjan Tripathy.