Can't Keep Train Crash Bodies Long, Embalming Won't Help, Says Top Doctor
NDTV
Odisha Train Crash: A senior doctor from the premier AIIMS hospital, Delhi, said it was "not advisable" to keep damaged bodies too long as even embalming wouldn't help.
Over 100 bodies have not been identified after the Odisha train accident on Friday, one of India's deadliest ever, in which 278 people were killed.
It has been more than 80 hours and officials are debating how much longer the bodies, many of them dismembered and mangled, can be kept for relatives to identify them. To give the families more time, the bodies are being embalmed. Blood samples are also being collected for DNA matching.
A senior doctor from the premier AIIMS hospital, Delhi, said it was "not advisable" to keep damaged bodies too long as even embalming wouldn't help.
A Shariff, the Head of Department, Anatomy, AIIMS, said a body could be preserved "for years" only if the embalming is done correctly, within 12 hours.