After the deafening blast, eerie silence at Maulana Azad Medical College mortuary

At the gates of Maulana Azad Medical College mortuary on Tuesday morning, silence hung heavy in the air, broken only by the quiet sobs of families waiting for a confirmation on the news they dreaded to hear. A day after the explosion near Red Fort, they had been running from pillar to post in search of their loved ones.

It was only in the early hours of Tuesday that the family members of the deceased started getting confirmations about their kin. At around 10 a.m., a man walked through the mortuary gates. Within moments, his legs trembled and he nearly collapsed. His restraint gave way to wails that turned into sobs. He arrived at the hospital to take away the body of his 23-year-old son, Nouman.

Nouman owned a cosmetic shop in Shamli, Uttar Pradesh. “He had come to Delhi with his friend to buy some material for his shop when both were caught in the blast,” said Sonu, his cousin. “He was my mamu’s (uncle’s) son. His elder brother is undergoing treatment for kidney failure at Lok Nayak. The family had three sisters and ageing parents. Seeing the responsibility on his father’s shoulders, he had started supporting the family financially,” Mr. Sonu said.

Sole breadwinner

Like Nouman, another youngster and the sole breadwinner of his family, lost his life in the incident. Originally from Samastipur, Bihar, Pankaj Sahani had been staying in the Khanjawala area for about a decade. He was laid off from his job in a private company and started supporting his family as a taxi driver.

“His father was diagnosed with heart disease. He was unable to work. Pankaj decided to provide for the family of five,” said Nikesh, one of the relatives of the deceased.

Sahani had gone to the blast site to drop a passenger, and when he was returning, the explosion occurred. His final rites were completed in Delhi on Tuesday. The identification process was also exhausting, said Mr. Nikesh. “It was only around noon that we were finally allowed to take his body away. We were able to identify him based on his clothes, belongings, birthmarks, and other physical characteristics. The authorities asked us thrice to confirm his identity,” he added.

‘No support for family’

As a migrant from a neighbouring State, Sahani’s story is no different from that of Dinesh Mishra. Leaving behind a wife and two children in Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh, Mishra, who was in his 30s, was living alone in Nangloi to support his family . 

“Now that he is gone, there is no one to look after his family. They will have to depend on others,” said Mishra’s cousin, Samar Tiwari.

Late Monday night, Sandeep Aggarwal had a constant, tense expression on his face. His voice still firm and trying not to break under the intensity of the situation, he went from ward to ward at the Lok Nayak Hospital. Later, he learnt that his two relatives, Lokesh and Ashok, both from Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, had died in the explosion. Ashok worked with the Delhi Transport Corporation, while Lokesh had come to Delhi to visit a relative admitted at Lok Nayak Hospital. The two had planned to meet near the Red Fort. Their bodies were handed over to the family and taken to Amroha on Tuesday morning for the last rites.

Similarly, the family of Amar Kataria, in his 30s, spent two hours outside the Lok Nayak Hospital, waiting for a single word from the authorities on his whereabouts. “We had been expecting him back home from his shop in the area when we received a phone call from a stranger that he was one of the injured and was brought to the hospital,” said his mother, from a car, holding a child, while his wife was trying to make a way inside the hospital. Later that night, she received a confirmation that he had passed away. The family took his body home Tuesday morning.