The site of building collapse at South Mumbai’s Bhendi Bazar on Thursday morning. (Source: Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)
Recuperating in Saifee Hospital, 60-year-old Quresh Lightwala still does not know that Thursday’s building collapse has wiped out his entire family. Soon after 3 am on Friday, one of the last of the 33 dead bodies to be pulled out of the debris was a member of the Lightwala family. Eight members of the family, including a newborn, were found dead. Their bodies were handed over to relatives on Friday.
Quresh was transferred from J J hospital to Saifee Hospital, an hour before the bodies were found. He has injuries in the eyes and head. In JJ hospital, he had been admitted to the cardiac care unit in a critical condition.
According to doctors at Saifee Hospital, Quresh had suffered contusion on the head and a fracture in the upper arm. “He is stable and will be shifted from the ICU to normal ward. His relatives asked us not to inform him about anything,” said a doctor from the hospital.
Of the eight members who passed away, three are his grandchildren — 20-day-old grandson Burhanuddin, Amantulla (3) and Burhanuddin (6).
The other deceased are his wife Rashida, sons Ibrahim (22) and Murtuza (32), daughter-in-law Sakina (28), and daughter Alfiya Mandsorawala (25). Alfiya had come to her parents’ home for her delivery and was supposed to stay with them for a while in Husaini building.
Sakina lived in Nashik before marriage. Her father, who holds a high post in Bohra mosques, currently lives in Canada.
Soon after the bodies were found from under the rubble, the rescue team also found the bodies of two labourers, Iqbal Mustakin Khan (35) and Abdul Rehman (19).
Khan, who has three sons and a daughter, was the sole breadwinner of the family in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh.
“I reached Mumbai yesterday. I had been looking for him since then. Today morning, the body was pulled out after 5.30 am,” said his brother, Mohammed Aziz. Khan was having breakfast in a shop with three other labourers when the shop, along with the building, collapsed.
“How much could he earn through farming in UP? He earned Rs 12,000 here and educated his children,” Aziz said.
Khan had been staying in Mumbai for the past 15 years. His wife, Jannat-ul-nisa, was informed about the collapse on Thursday night. “I did not know what to tell her initially because we had not even found him,” Aziz said.
Khan’s children, aged 11, nine, seven and five, are now waiting for his body that was flown to Lucknow on Friday and scheduled to be taken to Balrampur by road.
Both Khan and Rehman worked at Tawakkal sweets. Rehman, a helper, was also the only earning member of his family. He has three sisters and ageing parents.
Among those dead in the collapse, the body of Babu Ali (19) remained unidentified for the entire day, despite his family and friends searching for him.
On Friday, Babu’s cousin identified the body after a photo was put on display for identification in the hospital’s post-mortem centre.
“His body was buried under the debris and a machine was atop it,” said cousin Javed Ali. Babu, a native of UP, was a street food hawker preparing sweets in Mumbai.
“He had plans to return home next month and get married,” Javed said.
His younger brother Munna Ali works in a Govandi godown.
On Thursday, Babu’s cart, with stock worth Rs 15,000, was crushed under building. “He had not gone home in the past two years. He had taken loans and was saving money to repay those,” Javed said.
