School That Housed Odisha Train-Crash Victims’ Bodies, Demolished After Students Refuse To Return- Watch

The parents of the students were apprehensive of sending their children back to the school building where the dead bodies of the Odisha triple train crash victims were kept.

New Delhi: A school in Odisha’s Bahanga, which was turned into a makeshift morgue to house the dead bodies of the victims of the deadly Balasore train crash, was demolished after students reportedly reportedly refused to return to the premises.

As per a report by Aaj Tak, the parents of the students were apprehensive of sending their children back to the school building where the dead bodies of the Odisha triple train crash victims were kept, following which the school management had urged the state government to demolish the Bahanaga High School building which is located near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station.

The school management committee had said that the 65-year-old building was not fit to house the school anymore as it was in a dilapidated condition, adding that students were reluctant to return to the premises due to the traumatizing incident.

Portions of #Bahanaga High School being demolished

Students & guardians expressed apprehension as it was converted into a temporary morgue for #CoromandelExpressAccident victims.

School to reopen on June 19. pic.twitter.com/X3I2nJwXbD

— Sreyashi Dey (@SreyashiDey) June 9, 2023

Pramila Swain, the Headmistress of the government-run high school had told news agency PTI that the students and parents are “scared” to return to the school and the school was planning to conduct spiritual programmes and follow some rituals to help them overcome their fears.”

She added that some senior students and NCC cadets from the school had even joined the rescue work.

On Thursday, Balasore district collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, visited the school on the directions of the school and mass education department said he met members of the school management committee (SMC), headmistress, staff and locals who pleaded him to demolish the old building and renovate it so that students don’t fear attending classes.

Shinde said an SMC member told him that the kids were traumatized after watching the dead bodies lying in their classrooms on TV. “The school is scheduled to reopen on June 16 but the children and their parents have conveyed their apprehensions about returning to the premises,” he said.

Even thought, the bodies have now been shifted to Bhubaneswar and the school campus sanitised and cleaned, the students and the guardians are scared to return to the building.

The SMC said that they had initially allowed only three classrooms to house the victims of the fatal train crash, however, later, the Balasore district administration stored the bodies in the school’s main hall for identification purposes.

On June 2, three trains crashed into each other in Odisha’s Balasore in one of the most horrific train crashes in recent memory. The tragic mishap left 288 people dead and over 1,100 injured.