Odisha school where train crash bodies were kept razed over 'superstition' | VIDEO
The crash involving three trains, including Chennai-bound Coromandel Express, left 288 people dead about 100 metres from the Bahanaga High School
Authorities on Friday morning began the demolition of a school building, where bodies of those killed in the train crash at Bahanaga in Odisha's Balasore last week were kept, saying the students were reluctance to return to the institute as it served as a makeshift morgue.
The crash involving three trains, including Chennai-bound Coromandel Express, left 288 people dead about 100 metres from the Bahanaga High School.
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Rajaram Mohapatra, a school managing committee member, said the rooms where the bodies were kept were sanitised but the students and their parents remained unconvinced. "Once the new building is ready, a priest would sanctify the place so that the children are not scared after the opening of the school."
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A teacher at the school told news agency ANI the collector visited the building the day before. “There is nothing to be scared of… no spirits here. It's just superstition. Still, this will be taken down and a new building will be built.”
On Thursday, Balasore district collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde visited the school and said it would be demolished if the committee submits a resolution. The committee accordingly submitted the resolution following which the demolition started.
Schools in Odisha are due to reopen on June 19 after summer break.
Blood-soaked and dismembered bodies were kept in three of the rooms at the school for identification.
Odisha school and mass education department secretary Aswathy S said that counselling of students and teachers will also be organised. "Many of the teachers took part in shifting of the bodies. So they would also need to be counselled," she said.
