Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government today revised the death toll in the Odisha triple train crash at 288 so far.
“In the context of the train accident till yesterday we had confirmed deaths of 275 persons. We asked the Balasore collector to compile the details of bodies recovered from the tracks, those who died in the hospitals… After compiling all, the Collectors today informed us that the final death toll is 288,” said Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena briefing reporters here today.
Jena said that initially combing/mopping up exercise was done in 30 metre area on both sides of the railway track which was later extended up to 70 metre on both sides.
Jena informed that the Balasore Collector had despatched 193 bodies to Bhubaneswar which were kept in different mortuaries and added that the Collector at the district level has got 94 bodies identified and handed over those to their next of kin.
Similarly, Jena said, another person who succumbed to his injuries in Bhadrak hospital has also been handed to his family members at the hospital.
The Odisha government and railway authorities had announced that 288 persons died in the tragedy. But, later, the state government revised the toll to 275. Now, again, today, the Chief Secretary said 288 is the final death figure of the accident.
Death reports have been collected from the districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur Cuttack, and Khurda (Bhubaneswar),Jena said.
Of the 193 bodies brought to Bhubaneswar, 110 have been identified and handed over to the next of kin so far, he said.
The Chief Secretary said, a total of 205 bodies were identified and handed over till now while the remaining 83 bodies are under the process of identification.
As the bodies are in very bad shape, people are facing difficulty in identifying the bodies. So, body embalming and DNA sampling is being carried out in AIIMS Bhubaneswar so that the family members can get bodies of their loved ones, he added.
