Corridors lined with corpses
The stench of rotting flesh hung in the air around the school.
AdvertisementDozens of people sat outside its gates hoping to find their missing relatives.
Once a family has identified their relative from photos, they are given a receipt that allows them to view the body. But it has been far from simple.
"We received 179 bodies here, but only 45 of them could be identified," said Ranajit Nayak, the police officer in charge of releasing the bodies.
Bodies in white bags tagged "identified" or "unidentified" lined both sides of the blood-stained corridor late on Saturday, with others stored in classrooms.
"There were bodies with only a torso, an entirely burnt face, disfigured skull and no other visible identity markers left," Nayak said.
"Did you expect that this identification would be easy for anyone?"
Work began late on Saturday to move unidentified bodies to a centre with better facilities to preserve the bodies for relatives travelling longer distances.
Unidentified corpses will then be moved to permanent city morgues.
For some, like Abhijit Chakrabarty, 27, from neighbouring West Bengal, the wait was over. He saw a photograph with a bracelet worn by his missing 25-year-old brother-in-law Subhashish.
But others continued their desperate search. Mr Agarwal, the official at the school, warned that some families might have to take DNA tests to provide matches.
Noor Jamal Mondon, 38, from Bardhaman district in West Bengal, has heard nothing from his missing brother Yaad Ali, 35.
"We've checked all the hospitals and the crash site throughout the day," said Mondon, an imam at a mosque. "We are now looking at the dead bodies at the morgue once again."
