Death toll in Odisha train accident revised again to 288

Odisha chief secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena said that the new number was reached following verification of bodies, death of a few grievously injured patients.

BALASORE: Two days after the Odisha government revised the death toll in Friday’s rail accident in Balasore to 275 citing cases of double counting of bodies, the state government on Tuesday revised the death toll to 288 again.

Balasore: A train runs past derailed coaches after train services resumed on the section where the accident happened on Friday, near Bahanga Bazar railway station in Balasore district on Tuesday (PTI)

Odisha chief secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena said that the new number was reached following verification of bodies, death of a few grievously injured patients, and updates from district collectors.

A little before 7 pm on Friday, the Coromandel Express collided with a stationary iron ore-laden goods train at Bahanaga Bazar station. Some of its derailed coaches then crashed into the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express in India’s worst railway disaster in three decades that left 1100 injured.

“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 and those who died in the hospitals. After compiling all of this, the collectors today informed us that the final death toll is 288. Of the 288 deaths, 205 bodies have been identified so far and handed over to their relatives. The remaining 83 bodies are under the identification process,” said Jena.

The chief secretary said the state government was giving ₹5 lakh as ex-gratia to the next of kin of the 39 deceased from the state, in addition to the ₹10 lakh announced by the railways. He also said that the government is bearing the cost of treatment of the accident victims and the transportation of bodies to their respective destinations.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and said that 103 people who died in the accident were from Bengal where the Coromandel Express originates. She, however, raised doubts about the official death toll, stressing that 31 passengers from the state “are still missing” in the accident.

Read here: Odisha train accident: CBI registers case as team reaches Balasore for probe

A senior official from the Bengal government, however, later clarified that everyone was accounted for, and there was no information about anyone “missing” from Bengal.