T.N. team in Odisha says no victims from State among 70 bodies identified so far

The team of Ministers and senior bureaucrats from Tamil Nadu who are in Odisha to coordinate the rescue and relief operations, following the train accident, informed Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday that there were no one from the State among the roughly 70 bodies identified until then.

The team further said that so far, no one from Tamil Nadu had been identified among the injured persons being treated at two major hospitals in Odisha. Mr. Stalin had a meeting through video-conference with the team, which included Ministers Udhayanidhi Stalin and S.S. Sivasankar; Transport Secretary K. Phanindra Reddy; Revenue and Disaster Management Secretary Kumar Jayant; and Chairperson of Teachers Recruitment Board Archana Patnaik. The team also informed the Chief Minister that the mortal remains of 237 persons were kept at four places at Balasore. While 70 of those killed were identified, there were no one from Tamil Nadu among them, the Balasore Collector informed the team.

While Mr. Udhayanidhi, Mr. Sivasankar and Mr. Reddy visited the accident site, Mr. Jayant and Ms. Patnaik were at the control room set up by the Odisha government to collect information on people from Tamil Nadu. The team headed by Mr. Udhayanidhi visited the injured at the government hospital in Balasore. They also collected information about the people being treated at a Cuttack hospital.