Odisha Train Tragedy: Bahanaga High School That turned Into Makeshift Morgue Demolished

The Bahanaga High School, which was turned into a temporary morgue after the triple train crash which killed 288 passengers, is reportedly being demolished by the local administration after the students were scared to return to their classes in the building.

The visuals doing rounds on social media sites showed the demolition works in progress. Following the Balasore tragedy, the dead bodies were kept in this 65-year-old school building.

"The children are affected and are reluctant to come to school after it reopens on June 16," a member of the school management told the district collector.

However, the students refused to attend the classes in the building associated with the tragic mass death. As a result, the school management committee (SMC) had pleaded with the state government to demolish the building, according to a report in PTI.

"Younger students are scared," PTI quoted Bahanaga High School Headmistress Pramila Swain as saying. She added that the school planned to "conduct spiritual programmes and follow some rituals to help them overcome their fears."

She said some senior students and NCC cadets from the school had even joined the rescue work.

"Our children are refusing to go to school and their mothers are not keen to send them to the educational institute now," Sujit Sahoo, a guardian had earlier said.

Also, there are a few parents who are now thinking of changing school instead of sending their children to Bahanaga High School.

Even though the bodies have been shifted to Bhubaneswar and the school campus has been sanitised and cleaned, people are still scared and in a state of panic.

"It is difficult to forget that so many bodies were kept in our school building," said a student.

Balasore district collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, who visited the school on Thursday, said, "I have met members of the school management committee, headmistress, other staff and local people. They want to demolish the old building and renovate it so that children do have any fear or apprehension to attend classes."

It is an old building which sheltered people during floods as Bahanaga is a flood-prone area.