Unclaimed victims of Balasore railway disaster to be cremated after four months
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has released a standard operating procedure for the cremation of the 28 unclaimed victims of the Balasore railway disaster.
The 28 unclaimed victims of the Balasore railway disaster who have been lying in the mortuary of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, since June 3 are now being cremated.
To cremate the dead, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) released a standard operating procedure (SOP) on Sunday. `After the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) requested that the Khurda district collector take the necessary action to dispose of the dead, the cremation procedure was started. Within two to three days, the cremation will take place, according to government sources.
296 people perished in the June 2 triple-train collision. The 28 dead remained unclaimed while all other bodies were sent to the victims' relatives in Balasore or Bhubaneswar.
After receiving 162 bodies from Balasore and keeping them in containers, the AIIMS eventually sent over 134 bodies to the victims' families after identifying them and conducting a DNA test. No one has stepped forward to claim the 28 bodies that are currently in the mortuary, even after four months. For the purpose of keeping the victims' lifeless remains from decomposing, the AIIMS purchased five deep freezer containers from the port of Paradip.
The case is currently being looked into by the CBI.
The SOP states that the BMC will supply two to three corpse bearers to ensure the safe and efficient transfer of dead from the AIIMS to the cremation site.
According to the SOP, "The director, AIIMS, shall hand over the 28 unidentified bodies lying in the mortuary of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, to the health officer, BMC, following existing rules/procedures/rituals/guidelines of the state/central government and NHRC for cremation of the bodies."
The dead will be collected by the BMC health officer, who will also keep a record of them. For record-keeping purposes, the entire procedure, from receiving the bodies at AIIMS until cremation, will be captured on camera.
The bodies would be picked up by the BMC assistant health officer at the crematory in Bharatpur, which is just 5 kilometers from the AIIMS.
A freight train, the Bangalore-Howrah Superfast Express, and the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, all headed for Chennai, were involved in an accident on June 2 near Balasore's Bahanaga Bazar station.
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