The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday said 29 of the 81 bodies of victims of the June 2 train accident in Odisha’s Balasore, which were kept in AIIMS Bhubaneswar, have been identified.? The process of handing over the bodies has started, BMC mayor Sulochona Das said. ?

“Of the 81 bodies preserved at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, 29 have been identified based on DNA analysis. We have started the process of handing the bodies to their families,” Das said.?The mayor said authorities of Indian Railways and AIIMS Bhubaneswar decided to go for DNA sampling analysis after there were multiple claimants over one body.?

Das said the state government has made arrangements to send all the bodies to their native places.? “Of the 29 identified bodies, five families have already reached AIIMS Bhubaneswar,” she said.?Of the 29 bodies, one belonged to a family in Odisha while the others were mostly from West Bengal and Bihar.?

It took around 20 days to receive the DNA report from the central laboratory in Delhi, an official said, adding as many as 88 DNA samples were sent for identification of the 81 bodies.? Of the 293 persons killed in the accident involving Chennai-bound Coromandel Express from Shalimar, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a stationary goods train, 287 died on the spot while six others succumbed to their injuries in hospitals.?

The accident took place near Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore district on June 2 evening.? While most of the bodies were handed over to their families, 81 could not be identified due to multiple claimants and preserved in four separate containers procured from Paradip Port. The bodies were kept at minus 17 degree C in the containers, an official said.