It was around 2 a.m. on June 3 at Bahanaga Railway Station — the site where one of the most tragic rail accidents of recent memory had occurred. After watching piles of bodies being pulled out of capsized bogies and packed off in pick-up trucks, I started wondering where bodies were heading to.
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It took me to one unusual place where one could have thought of preserving bodies. It was Bahanaga High School which would reopen in a fortnight after summer vacation. Curious to know the fate of the bodies, I entered the school premises.
The Bahanaga High School, which was converted into a makeshift mortuary, presented an unnerving experience as I stepped inside in the course of my reporting. The lifeless bodies lay strewn across the floor. I was overwhelmed hearing the constant ringtones coming from corpses. Surely, their loved ones must have been making desperate calls to ascertain the well-being of their relatives.
The school may come back to normal after it’s reopened. However, the scenes of desperation and agony will continue to haunt the children and guardians for times to come. The sleepy town of Bahanaga has suddenly gained national recognition. But few would have liked to see their town gaining attention in such manner.
As desperate relatives scurried through the piles of bodies to identify their known ones, mobile ringtones helped them in locating the bodies.
Relatives and family members are seen near to the Bahanaga school for the identification where recovered dead bodies stored of the Coromandal express accident tragedy in Balasore district of Odisha. | Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT
Asity Maity from East Medinpore district of West Bengal was one of the luckiest ones, who did not have to struggle to identify his relatives.
“Five of my fellow villagers were in Coromandel Express. One of them was Bhohlanath Giri who was going to Chennai by the train. Hearing the news of the accident, a group of villagers came to Bahanaga to ascertain what had happened to our five close friends. As I started calling over the phone, one unidentified person answered. He guided me to Bhola’s body,” said Mr. Maity.
An infographic depicting how the Odisha train crash may have happened based on the preliminary probe by Indian Railway Ministry.
Surendra Rout, a local who was involved in the rescue operation, said that around 8 p.m. on June 2, many phones which were intact kept ringing incessantly from the coaches.
Victims were mostly from West Bengal. By the time they reached the spot, the rescue operation was in full swing. However, it was a herculean task for them to go near bodies. Bogies were scattered all over the place. Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, National Disaster Response Force and Odisha Fire Service personnel worked overtime to retrieve bodies.
Nihar Ranjan Barik, a member of Satyasai Seva Sangathan, Balasore, said, “we shifted more than 70 bodies from the accident sites to the school premise. Initially, we were shocked to see so many corpses. However, as time passed, our emotions vanished and we just carried bodies reflexively.”
