100 bodies yet to be identified, kin give blood for DNA sampling

BHUBANESWAR/KOLKATA: Around 100 of the 275 victims of the three-train crash in Odisha’s Balasorewere still to be identified late Monday, heightening the tragic irony of families flitting in and out of hospital morgues looking for their missing loved ones while scores of disfigured bodies lay there nameless.
AIIMS Bhubaneswar has started collecting blood for DNA sampling from people unable to identify bodies of their family members presumed to have died in the crash, medical superintendent Dillip Kumar Parida said. “If there’s a DNA match, we will immediately call the family.”
Odisha chief secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena said 170 bodies — 85 each in Balasore and Bhubaneswar — had been handed over to the next of kin by 2pm Sunday.
Basudev Roy from Bengal’s Dakshin Dinajpur district was among the many disheartened faces at the end of a emotionally sapping day, having travelled to various hospitals looking for his brother and brother-in-law, who were on Coromandel Express. “Eight of us have seen bodies across morgues since Saturday, but none resembling my brother and sister’s husband,” he said.
Two brothers from Purba Medinipur in Bengal – Gopal and Nimai Manna – have been searching for their sibling Samir, a pantry employee on Coromandel Express. After visiting hospitals in Balasore, they reached AIIMS Bhubaneswar on Monday, only to be confronted by the sight of more bodies disfigured beyond recognition.
(With inputs from Debashis Konar)