Train Crash: Scenes of 3-Train Crash in Bahanaga Still Haunt Residents | Bhubaneswar News
That night around 6.55pm that day, a speeding Coromandel Express dashed against a stationery goods train and derailed. Three of the derailed coaches whiplashed the tail end of the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express crossing the station at the same time.
“I still remember the evening of June 2 last year.The speeding Coromandel Express climbed onto the stationed goods train in front of my house with an ear-splitting thud. Another passenger train also got entangled with Coromandel Express. This memory will haunt us for a lifetime,” said Laxmi.
A year after one of the deadliest train accidents in the country that took place at Bahanaga in Balasore district of the sate that claimed 296 lives, the scars still remain despite massive infrastructure development carried out in the area by the railways.
However, outsiders cannot figure out the place of the accident that occurred one year ago, because the accident site at the Bahanaga Bazar level crossing has cleared the mangled coaches, debris and changed the damaged equipment of the railway track and level crossing. Normality had returned a while ago.
“While passing the level crossing, I sometimes remember the accident. I had reached the accident site with my autorickshaw before any rescue team or ambulance had arrived there. I had transported many injured passengers to hospitals throughout the night. I still remember the screams of people, especially children and women. Sometimes it comes to my mind like a flashback,” said Rajendra Ghadai, a resident of Sathi village near Bahanaga station.
As many as 193 bodies were brought from the accident site and Balasore hospitals to Bhubaneswar for proper preservation and identification. As many as 165 bodies were handed over to relatives of the victims. The remaining 28 unclaimed bodies were disposed of on October 11 last year by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.
AIIMS Bhubaneswar had collected DNA samples of the bodies and family members of the victims for identification.
Family members were given accommodation at Bhubaneswar to identify bodies of their kin. It had handed over 53 bodies over to kin of the deceased after crossmatching their DNA samples.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had also taken cognizance of the case and ordered the state and the Centre for adequate compensation to actual kin of the deceased.
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