By – Prakarsh Kastwar
Even 94 days after the Balasore train tragedy in Odisha, the 28 victims have not been identified. Dilip Parida, the medical director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, provided this information on Monday, September 4.
He stated that following the disaster, 162 dead were transported to the hospital. 134 of the dead bodies had DNA matches with family members. Following that, they received the bodies. For this, we had sent more than 100 DNA samples for analysis to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, but no one has shown up to identify the deceased for the past ten days. I predict that nobody will show up at this time.
We need direction from the Ministry of Railways before we can cremate these deceased people as unclaimed. CBI, a federal body, is looking into the accident. After receiving instructions from higher authorities, these bodies would be given to the CBI. In order to prevent long-term damage to the dead bodies, they are currently housed in the hospital’s special freezer.
This is how the accident happened
The Coromandel Express headed for Chennai that evening, but instead of using the main route, it used the loop line, where the freight train was waiting. The train and the freight train collided. On the opposite track were the Coromandel and a few of the cargo train’s bogies.
The Howrah-Bengaluru Express soon after crashed with carriages that were strewn across the track. Government statistics show that the tragedy resulted in more than 293 fatalities and more than 1100 injuries.
Three railway officers are named in the CBI’s charge sheet for the accident. All three are charged with culpable homicide and evidence destruction. These are Technician Pappu Kumar, Section Engineer Mohammad Amir Khan, and Senior Section Engineer Arun Kumar Mohanta. The CBI detained all three suspects on July 7. The court committed them to judicial custody on July 11.
All three accused knew that their negligence could lead to an accident :
The CBI had stated in July that all three of the railway officers included in the CBI charge sheet were aware that their carelessness could result in a serious accident.
In the first week of July, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), who was looking into the accident, blamed human error on the workers of the signaling department.
Due to unauthorized track repairs, the accident occurred.
On August 24, the CBI delivered its report before the Bhubaneswar special court. According to the investigative agency, the track repairs that were made without permission led to the train tragedy.
Earlier, repair work was done without approval at level crossing gate number 94 of Bahanaga Bazar station. CBI said that the repairing work was done there without the approval of the Senior Divisional Signal and Telecom Engineer. The circuit diagram was also not passed for this.
According to CRS, a signaling system breakdown was the reason for the accident.
According to CRS, a signaling system breakdown was the reason for the accident.
In addition to the CBI, the Railway Board’s Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) also looked into the disaster. The CRS delivered a 40-page report to the board on July 3. According to this, the accident was caused by improper labeling of wires inside the level-crossing position box, which caused a problem with the automated signaling system. For many years, the crossing location box’s mislabeled wires went unnoticed. Additionally, maintenance went wrong with it.