Bahanaga Nodal High School’s proximity to the crash site, located barely 500 metres away, made officials overseeing rescue operations last weekend pick it as a temporary shelter for 250-odd bodies before they were moved to hospital morgues in Balasore and Bhubaneswar. Six classrooms and the hall were used to line up the bodies, many of them disfigured.
The last traces of death have since been removed and the entire building sanitised, but the tragedy seems to have left an invisible yet indelible stamp on the minds of many, even spawning superstition about the place being haunted.
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Triple train accident: Bahanaga Bazaar High School that turned into a temporary morgue likely to see a complete makeover
Balasore collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde appealed to all during a visit to the school not to spread fear and superstition, suggesting that efforts be made instead to inculcate a scientific temper in young, impressionable minds. “This 65-year-old school has transformed over the years. There is a science laboratory on campus that should lead the way, not superstition. We will, however, take an informed decision on whether to demolish the school building or not,” Shinde said.
School and mass education secretary S Aswathy said a team of officers visited the campus on successive days and heard the concerns being raised by a section of parents and teachers. “We are awaiting reports from our officers and the school’s management committee, based on which the government will take a decision”.
The state government intends to arrange expert counselling for the students and teachers to help them accept the reality of what happened and move on, Aswathy said.
“The people of Bahanaga and nearby villages witnessed scenes that will haunt them for a long time. The impact on young minds is even more, which is why we are requesting the government to demolish the classrooms where the bodies had been kept and construct new ones,” said headmistress Pramila Swain said.
Balasore collector Dattatraya B Shinde appealed to all during a visit to the school not to spread fear and superstition, suggesting that efforts be made
instead to inculcate a scientific temper in young, impressionable minds. The government intends to arrange expert counselling for the students and teachers, school education secretary S Aswathy said