With as many as 147 bodies being recovered from the affected coaches of the Gyaneswari Express, 57 of them remained “unidentified” till Sunday evening. Sample collection for DNA testing has been started from Sunday to ascertain the identity of the victims whom the accident has left changed, beyond recognition. Blood samples for the DNA testing of 20 bodies have been collected.
The number of such cases is expected to rise. Official sources revealed that post-mortem of all the 147 bodies was completed by Sunday night.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, confusion had prevailed in the premises of the Midnapore Medical College and hospital where the bodies have been kept. Angry relatives demanded to see the remains of the bodies that were recovered from the site of the accident, but were yet to be unloaded till Sunday afternoon from the trucks in which they were brought.
“I lost five members of my family. I have been waiting in this hospital since Friday morning, hoping to take back whatever I get of my lost kins. I have got nothing. All the bodies have been recovered and brought to this hospital in a truck, which is standing outside. No one has bothered to unload the bodies since the past 12 hours,” fumed Sukumar Banerjee, who claims that no one shown in the pictures is his relative.
To expedite the identification process, images of the bodies and body parts, that were recovered from the train and had undergone post-mortem, were shown in a LCD monitor.