A week after the horrific triple-train accident that left 288 passengers dead and hundreds injured, trials and tribulations of the bereaved families of the deceased continued to linger on as reports of erroneous handing of the bodies to claimants, and cases of swapping are trickling in.

Call it a case of mistaken identity or negligence on part of overstressed staff in charge of body disposal, fresh confusion has begun to crop up after cases of multiple claimants to single body had grabbed the spotlight.

Discrepancies and slipups of this nature are too glaring to escape notice. Sabillah Mulla, a mother who has lost his young son to the tragedy, has identified the body from the photos displayed at the wall of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar.

The woman from West Bengal had to undergo the ordeal of searching out his grown up son from the morgue.  Not finding the body, she frantically inquired the officials, only to be told that she could find another body that bore striking resemblance to his dead son.

She said she was informed about my son, “My son, Sariful Sheikh’s death over phone. She had to borrow Rs 15,000 from her neighbours to travel to Odisha to get his body. She identified the body no.-9 as mentioned in the website. But she is being told to take another body.

“After undergoing DNA sampling test, I waited for a week for the report as was told by officials. But I am still not sure if I will ever get to see my son’s body. My world is shattered, I have left everything to the almighty, she narrated with tears welling up in her eyes.

Suramila Mandi of the Hugli district of West Bengal has a similar tale to tell.

“After the accident, I received a phone call that Gopal Hembrum, my son-in-law, was injured in the accident and is admitted to Balasore Hospital. For six days, I have been running from pillar to post. But I am unable to locate him either on a hospital bed or in mortuary,” she recounted.

Meanwhile, the Balasore district administration on Friday initiated the exercise of dismantling the Bahanaga Bazar High School, which had doubled up as a temporary mortuary with bodies of around 250 passengers who lost their lives in the triple-train clash stored in it. The decision to raze the school building was taken as parents were reluctant to send their wards to the educational institution. The school building will be demolished. It will be rebuilt into a model school, said officials.

In another development, the South Eastern Railway authorities on Friday informed that the Ministry of Railways has so far disbursed compensation of Rs 22.66 crore families of 661 victims, either injured or who lost their lives to 2 June deadly triple-train crash in Balasore district.

The identification process of the deceased is still underway. Once it is complete, the bereaved families will receive the ex-gratia, said South Eastern Railway Chief Public Relation Officer, Aditya Kumar Chaudhary on Friday.