BHUBANESWAR: Close to a month after the horrific train tragedy at Bahanaga, six bodies were handed over to the relatives at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar on Friday, ending days of agony and wait for family members.
Two of the deceased were from West Bengal, two from Bihar and one each from Jharkhand and Mayurbhanj district in Odisha.
These bodies were among the 29 that had been identified from DNA tests conducted on 81 bodies kept at AIIMS in a special container with temperature close to minus 10 degrees Celsius.
Among the bodies identified and handed over were that of Samir Bauri (32) and Anjar Ul-Haq (30) (both from West Bengal), Suraj Kumar (21) and Sujit Kumar (23) (both from Bihar), Bhim Chaudhary (26) from Jharkhand and Bramhakant Das (34) of Mayurbhanj.
"The bodies were handed over in the afternoon after verifying the relevant papers. The AIIMS staff identified the five bodies following DNA matching," said BMC commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange. Family members of the remaining 24 have been contacted. They are on their way to Bhubaneswar to claim the bodies, he added.
29 bodies identified with DNA matchAIIMS director Ashutosh Biswas said as per reports received from Central Forensic Science Laboratory, 29 bodies were so far found to have matched DNA samples of their relatives. “Reports of other samples are awaited,” he said.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) and CBI helped complete the formalities by checking the papers of the claimants. The transport department and ECoR provided ambulances free of cost to carry the bodies to their native places even as the BMC coordinated with AIIMS officials and relatives of the deceased. BMC officials said if relatives of any deceased (whose body has been identified) wishes to complete the cremation process in Bhubaneswar, they can do so and that the cremation ground has been kept ready for the purpose.
On Friday, ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh was given to the next of kin of each deceased. Doctors said the bodies are unlikely to decompose further in transit. The death toll in the triple-train accident has reached 294 with more than 15 injured patients being treated at SCB Medical College and Hospital
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