Five days after deadly train crash, more than 80 bodies remain unclaimed

|June 7, 2023

Five days after a deadly three-train crash in the Indian state of Odisha killed 288 people, more than 80 bodies remain unclaimed.

The crash on Friday evening involved two passenger trains and a stationary goods train. More than 1,000 people were injured in the crash, and many of them remain in hospitals.

The crash is the worst train accident in India in more than 40 years.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but officials believe that it may have been caused by human error.

In the aftermath of the crash, desperate family members of passengers have been flooding hospitals in search of their loved ones. But in many cases, identifying the bodies is proving to be a challenge.

At the Balasore District Hospital in Odisha, Muhammad Nizamuddin was unable to claim the bodies of his two grandsons, Tafsir Ansari, 16, and Tausif Ansari, 13.

The boys were traveling by the Coromandel Express with their father when the train crashed. The father is still missing.

The photographs of the teenagers were projected onto a wall in the hospital, but their grandfather was unable to identify them.

He then traveled to the state capital, Bhubaneshwar, where the unclaimed bodies were being kept. But he was told that Tafsir's body had already been claimed by another family.

"How is this possible?" Nizamuddin said. "Do you mean that I won't recognise my grandchildren?"

The bodies of the unclaimed victims will be kept at the hospital morgue for 10 days. After that, they will be cremated or buried by the government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed that anyone found guilty of negligence in the crash will be punished.

"This is a national tragedy," Modi said. "We will not rest until the guilty are brought to justice."

The crash has highlighted the need for improvements to India's railway infrastructure. The country has one of the largest railway networks in the world, but it is also one of the most poorly maintained.

In recent years, there have been a number of deadly train accidents in India. In 2016, a train derailment in Uttar Pradesh killed 112 people. And in 2018, a train collision in Bihar killed 100 people.

The government has pledged to invest billions of dollars in improving the country's railway infrastructure. But it remains to be seen whether these investments will be enough to prevent future tragedies.