TN Express fire: families agonise over unidentified bodies

August 01, 2012 01:49 am | Updated December 04, 2021 11:12 pm IST - NELLORE:

An injured person is being treated at a hospital in Nellore. Photo: K. Ravikumar

An injured person is being treated at a hospital in Nellore. Photo: K. Ravikumar

For the families of those who died in a fire that gutted coach S11 of the Tamil Nadu Express early on Monday morning, all of Tuesday, was an ordeal. Identifying bodies that had been charred beyond recognition based solely on the victims’ features, was both difficult and agonising.

Twelve bodies are yet to be identified, with relatives of those missing anxiously waiting for confirmation at the mortuary of the DSR District Headquarters Hospital in Nellore.

Ram Singh, came down from Delhi, on hearing about the accident. His cousin, Jaswanth Singh, 18, a resident of Melout in Punjab, who was on the train, is missing. Jaswanth’s university friends Sandeep Agnihotri, Sukhdev Singh and Amarpreeth Singh have suffered burns. Two of them are Narayana Hospital with serious burns. V.S. Siddhi, a resident of Vijayawada, came in search of his missing son V.S. Mommat Mohiddin, 40, who boarded the train at Vijayawada. Based on features provided by him, officials confirmed Mohiddin’s death and handed over his body in the afternoon. Mohiddin was a trader in gems and had been to Chennai on a business trip.

Police said 15 people are still undergoing treatment in various city hospitals, while 13 others have been discharged. Nine of the injured are at Narayana Hospital, two at Jaya Bharath Hospital and four at Bollineni Hospital.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.