Bodies of Train Crash Victims Remain Unidentified as Relatives Struggle to Reach Site

Families of those who died in India’s worst railway accident in 20 years were still unable to reach the affected region by Sunday, the authorities said. As a result, many of the victims’ bodies remained unclaimed and unidentified, doctors and local officials reported. The train crash which killed at least 275 people occurred near Balasore town in the eastern state of Odisha on Friday. The majority of those on board were migrant labourers, students and daily wage-earners, and most came from towns and villages that were hundreds of miles away. The victims’ injuries have made identification difficult, causing significant delays, the officials and medics added.

The state government has transferred approximately 100 unidentified victims to the morgue at the main hospital in Bhubaneswar, the state capital. A few dozen more are being held at a business park in Balasore. The authorities have posted photographs of the unidentified bodies online. In addition to the challenges of identifying victims, the heat – around 100 degrees – is causing them to decompose quickly.

Relatives who have made it to the business park have viewed photographs of the victims on a laptop. If they identify a family member, they are then taken for a closer look. Rahul Kumar, a doctor at Bhubaneswar’s primary hospital, explains that the morgue there is already full. He and others suggest that relatives’ struggles to reach the area – many are poor and live a great distance away – have led to the delays.

The Indian railways minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, announced that a special train had been deployed to transport family members from Kolkata to Odisha. In addition, the Odisha government has set up a free bus service on the disrupted train route.