Odisha train accident: 41 bodies await identification at AIIMS Bhubaneswar

Union Minister further said that the Commissioner of Railway Safety under the Ministry of Civil Aviation has completed its inquiry into the Balasore train accident

Balasore: As many as 41 bodies at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar are yet to be identified after the triple train collision in Odisha’s Balasore district on June 2.

“We have 41 unclaimed bodies. People are coming to us and we are handing over the bodies after matching DNA samples,” said Dr (Prof) Ashutosh Biswas, Director, AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Odisha “The handing over process for bodies is going on and the relatives/claimants of other bodies are coming to take bodies,” Biswas added.

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The process of handing over the bodies will continue till the claimants arrive, it added.

Earlier on Friday Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the lapses in the signalling-circuit-alteration leading to wrong signals caused the tragic triple train accident in Odisha’s Balasore district.

The Union Minister further said that the Commissioner of Railway Safety under the Ministry of Civil Aviation has completed its inquiry into the Balasore train accident, which claimed 295 lives.

The rear-collision was due to the lapses in the signalling-circuit-alteration carried out at the North Signal Goomty (of the station) in the past, and during the execution of the signalling work related to replacement of Electric Lifting Barrier for level crossing gate no. 94 at the Station.

These lapses resulted in wrong signalling to Train No. 12841 wherein the UP Home Signal indicated a Green aspect for run-through movement on the UP main line of the station, but the crossover connecting the UP main line to the UP loop line (crossover 17A/B) was set to the UP loop line; the wrong signalling resulted in the Train No.12841 traversing on the UP loop line, and eventual rear-collision with the Goods train (No. N/DDIP) standing there, Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha.

The minister was replying to questions by Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader John Brittas and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh in Rajya Sabha on the tragedy.

The tragic incident of the triple train accident on June 2 involving the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express, the Howrah-bound Shalimar Express and a goods train.

He further said that 295 passengers lost their lives while 176 sustained grievous injuries, 451 suffered simple injuries and 180 received First Aid Treatment and left.