Kurla building collapse: How will we transport the bodies, ask kin of victims

Pic/Atul Kamble

Sanjay Manjhi survived the building crash, but lost his three brothers in it. They all worked and stayed together. On Wednesday, a stunned Sanjay sat at the civic-run Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, wondering how to take their bodies home. Relatives of the victims, most of them migrant workers, face the same question.

After the collapse, BMC has put up a notice saying all the wings of the buildings in the society are dangerous. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

My brothers, Rahul, Briju and Pappu died in the building collapse. We worked and lived together. How can I tell our parents and my sister-in-law? How can I take the bodies to our village which is in Bihar's Chapra District? I have to arrange money for that," Sanjay said.

He said Pappu was married for two years and his wife is pregnant. "What can I tell his wife and our parents? My brothers came here for a few months to earn money. But this city took everything from us," Sanjay said.

Relatives watch the rescue operation on Tuesday. Pic/Atul Kamble

Nikhilesh Kumar, a relative of another of the deceased, Vinod Manjhi, came from Panipat when he learnt about the incident. "He was my brother-in-law, married to my sister. How do I take his body to his native place? He has four kids and we haven't told his family yet," he said.

Nikhilesh Kumar, relative of Vinod Manjhi

The story of Guddu Baspor who also died in the building collapse is the same. His relative Ghaitas Korat was waiting at Rajawadi Hospital for Baspor's body. "I haven't decided how to take his body to our village in Bihar. I have to arrange for money for this," Korat, who works in Andheri said.

"We are all migrant workers. We are planning to take the bodies by plane. But it will cost a lot. Someone from the hospital told us it will cost more than Rs 30,000 to take the bodies to our village," another survivor added.