Bhubaneswar: The cremation of the unidentified and unclaimed bodies in the Bahanga train tragedy began on Tuesday after the investigating agency CBI gave the green signal to the Khurda district administration and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) for mass cremation.
While the dead bodies have been handed over to BMC by AIIMS, the cremation is underway at Bharatpur crematorium. It will take time to cremate all the bodies as the process will continue throughout the night. The bodies were handed over in the presence of BMC, East Coast Railway and CBI officials.
The dead bodies were kept in the freezer for more than 4 months, following which the cremation is being delayed, Commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange said adding that the process will be completed in a day or two. He also said that three Vans have been deployed to collect the dead bodies and take them to the crematorium.
It is worth noting that on June 2, a terrible accident took place near Balasore’s Bahanga road railway station claiming the lives of hundreds of people. Later, a total of 162 bodies were brought to Bhubaneswar AIIMS in various stages.
After physical verification, 81 of them were handed over to their families at that time. However, due to problems in identifying many bodies, DNA matching was conducted. Later, another 53 bodies were handed over to their families.
But even after that, 28 more bodies remained unclaimed. Therefore, on August 25, CBI wrote a letter to the Khurda District Collector for the cremation process of the unclaimed bodies.
After receiving a letter from Khurda Collector on Saturday, October 7, the BMC issued an SOP and started the cremation process from Tuesday.
