After waiting for almost a month, families of many of the victims of the Coromandel Express train tragedy found closure, as 29 bodies were finally identified after DNA cross matching. Following the accident that left 293 dead, 81 bodies had remained at AIIMS Bhubaneswar since these could either not be identified, or because multiple families had claimed the same body. Authorities at AIIMS Bhubaneswar had collected nails, hair and skin from the bodies and sent the samples to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory for DNA profiling. Blood samples of family members who came to claim the bodies were also collected by AIIMS authorities. Authorities have now received confirmation in 29 cases, with officials saying calls have gone out to relatives in Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. On Friday, five of the bodies, which had been preserved in containers within the AIIMS premises, were handed over. As many as 52 bodies are yet to be identified, with several families still waiting at the AIIMS campus, where they have been provided accommodation. The Odisha government has arranged ambulances for families who wish to carry the bodies of their relatives to their villages, while the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has made special arrangements to cremate bodies in Bhubaneswar, said official sources. Ramakant Das from Moroda in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district was among those waiting on the campus to receive the body of his elder brother Brahmakant. Brahmakant, along with three others, had boarded the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express from Balasore station. A few minutes later, the train entered into the loop line and rammed into a stationary goods train, causing a derailment. Subsequently, the derailed compartments of the Coromandel Express hit the Yeshvantpur Express, which was returning towards Howrah from the opposite direction. “AIIMS authorities could not hand over the body of my brother as another person from Purulia had also claimed it… We will cremate him at Puri Swargadwar,” Ramakant told The Indian Express. Naresh Yadav from Bihar’s Darbhanga had been waiting anxiously for a phone call from the authorities to claim the body of his 23-year-old son, Akhilesh, who got married just a month before the tragedy. Akhilesh had boarded the train for Chennai, where he worked in an eatery. Naresh said he and his two nephews have left for Bhubaneswar now, and hope to claim the body on Saturday. A senior AIIMS official said they expect to get DNA reports in the 52 remaining cases soon so that they can hand over all the bodies to their family members.
