BAHANAGA: Md Rafiq is in tears. He came all the way from Kisanganj (in Bihar) looking for his brother Anjar Ul-Haq’s body. Here he had to go through over a dozen body bags kept at North Orissa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NOCCI) business park premises where a temporary mortuary has been created. In vain, though.
Rafiq’s ordeal did not end as he was directed to a huge set of photographs kept at the hall. The pictures are unimaginably gory. Some have no skulls, many are defaced; others have their limbs severed.Thirty-six hours after the deadly Bahanaga train accident, grief has been overtaken by anguish, anger and frustration as family members and relatives have photographs of hundreds of mutilated bodies to browse through. The trauma of finding the mortal remains of a loved one is something many may never get over in their lives.
“I visited Balasore and Soro hospitals and also searched photographs of the victims here and but have not been able to get details of Anjar. A person who collected a work book at the accident site called Anjar’s employer who informed us about his death. I don’t know what to do now,” said an emotional Rafiq. He recalls after the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express entered Odisha at about 4 pm on Friday, Anjar called them saying he will reach Kisanganj by Saturday morning. After the government shifted bodies of the dead from Bahanaga High School and hospitals to NOCCI business park premises, kin of the deceased as well as missing passengers have flooded the facility.
Some managed to collect the mortal remains that had started to decompose, while others, numb in pain, stood clueless as they scanned through the photos of the defaced dead bodies.Around 172 bodies were kept preserved at the facility for a night and shifted gradually to Bhubaneswar after the RPF and emergency cell took photos of the unidentified bodies and put them on display on a table for the people to identify them.
The administration also put up a projector on the premises for screening the photos for easy identification. Baring a dozen of bodies, rest were sent to AIIMS, SUM, KIMS, Capital Hospital and Hi-tech in Bhubaneswar which have proper preservation facility, said additional tehsildar of Jaleswar, Amlan Nayak, posted at the emergency unit at NOCCI.
Ajmar, from West Bengal, searching for the body of this nephew, said he was told at Soro hospital to wait at NOCCI. “I identified his photo but his body is yet to be handed over to me. I will not leave the place without him,” he said.As people on emergency duty watched helplessly, family members of the victims demanded they be handed over bodies of their kin at Balasore instead of making them travel to other places.