Bhubaneswar, June 11: People of Bahanaga and its nearby areas where 288 people were killed and over one thousand injured in the train accident on June 2 last started a three-day long all religion memorial service beginning from Sunday for the salvation of the departed souls and speedy recovery of the injured.
Three trains- Shalimar- Chennai Coromondal Express, Bengaluru-Howard’s Superfast Express and a Goods Train were involved in the accident.
Hundreds of people of Bahanaga and near by areas rescued thousands of people and also helped in recovering bodies from the mangled coaches of the train.
The local people with the help of various voluntary organisations organised the memorial service at a place close to the accident site to mourn the demise of passengers and pay their homage.
Several people gathered at the site and shaved off their heads on the tenth day of the site as per the practice of the Hindu religions The priests of other religions like Islam, Christian, Jain and Christian were invited to perform puja at the site and prayed for peace.
The organisers have also organised Biswa Shanti Maha Yana, Sankirtan, and recital of Gayatri mantra on the 11th day of the incident on Tuesday and Satsang and a candle light march on the 12th day,
Moreover, programmes like ‘Biswa Shanti Maha Yajna’, ‘Astaprahari Nama Sankirtan’, ‘Akhanda Gayatrimantra’ have been organised for the 11th day and a ‘Satsang’ and candlelight march have been scheduled for the 12th day.
Meanwhile 81 bodies are lying in AIIMS Bhubanewar for identification and disposal. AIIMS sources said since the bodies were badly mutilated and beyond recognition DNA sampling of the bodies are being done to hand over the bodies to their relatives.
Sources said while 68 samples have been collected for DNA testing 29 samples were sent to Delhi for DNA testing.
