Yamuna e-way crash toll now 18; anguish at post-mortem house as kin struggle to identify charred bodies

Agra: The death toll in Tuesday's multi-vehicle collision on Yamuna Expressway in Mathura has gone up to 18, of which only five of the victims have been identified so far, as most bodies were charred beyond recognition, officials said on Wednesday.Agra divisional commissioner Shailendra Singh told TOI, "Our administration is working to identify all those dead in the accident. DNA samples of 11 people have been taken. The injured admitted to hospitals in Agra and Mathura are being provided the best possible treatment."Those who have been identified so far are Akhilendra Pratap Yadav (44) of Prayagraj, Rampal (75) from West Delhi, Ram Gopal (75) from Maharajganj, Sultan Ahmed (62) of Gonda, and Mohammed Shameem (50) from Kanpur Dehat. Shameem was driving one of the buses that went up in flames. Sources in the district administration said only Akhilendra's body has been handed over to his family and his last rites have been performed.Outside the post-mortem house in Mathura, Shameem's brother Raja Hussain told TOI, "My brother was driving the Shatabdi Express bus that runs from Kanpur to Delhi. We have given DNA samples and are waiting for the body." He added that Shameem was the sole breadwinner of the family and is survived by his wife and three children. As authorities continued efforts to identify the remaining victims, families began arriving in Mathura after repeated attempts to contact their loved ones after the accident went unanswered. By Wednesday, more than 20 people had gathered at the post-mortem house, only to learn that the bodies were too badly burnt for visual identification, leaving DNA testing as the only option.Among those frantically searching for their loved ones was Sunil Kumar, whose brother Devendra (28) had boarded a private sleeper bus from Hamirpur to Noida's Pari Chowk, where he worked as a labour assistant. "I last spoke to him around 9pm on Monday. We haven't heard from him since and his phone has remained switched off. His wife and child are waiting for news of him and my father has given his DNA sample," Sunil said. Jagdish Pal, who travelled from Sambhal's Hayatpur area, said his son Pankaj Kumar (30), a bus driver, was en route from Gorakhpur to Delhi. With no information forthcoming, Pal too submitted his DNA sample in the hope of identifying his son.Rajkumar from Fatehpur was searching for his 35-year-old brother Narendra, a sweet shop worker who had boarded a double-decker bus from Kanpur to Delhi. Like several others at the post-mortem house, he said there has been no trace of his brother since the crash.Then there was the family of 42-year-old Parvati Devi, who broke a window and pushed her two children out, securing their escape, but was not able to jump out as shards of broken glass got lodged in her neck. Her eldest son, Akash Kumar, has provided a DNA sample for her identification.Even as families waited in anguish at the post-mortem house, some kilometres away on the Yamuna Expressway, a six-member team comprising ADM city, SP rural, PWD engineers, an RTO official, a member of JP Infratech (developer and operator of the expressway) and a member of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) began their probe to check the causes of the accident. A team from the Institute of Road Traffic Education was also present at the accident site.Mathura ADM Amresh Kumar, who is heading the probe committee, said, "We are analysing the probable causes of the accident. Locals pointed out that there is a curve on the road here near the Yamuna, and fog had also set in at the time." He added that statements of the surviving drivers involved would be recorded before reaching a conclusion.