Railway officials are still grappling with the task of identifying the charred bodies retrieved from the ill-fated S 11 coach of the Tamil Nadu Express, a day after it was gutted in a fire that claimed 32 lives and injured 27 others.
Railway officials said 18 of the 32 bodies were yet to be identified, with authorities setting in process DNA tests for identification.Most of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition.
A team of forensic experts from the Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory also arrived at Nellore and took samples of the burnt metal and residues to probe whether it was an explosive that caused the fire. The experts spent almost the entire day collecting the samples from the charred and mangled remains of the bogie. The officials were not willing to commit on the cause of the accident at the moment.
Nearly 13 bodies have been handed over to their relatives after identification and completion of post-mortem, according to reports.
The authorities are planning to keep the bodies for another two days, before shifting to Hyderabad for DNA testing.