Bodies being identified, bodies being wrapped in plastic sheets, bodies being carried on makeshift stretchers to the waiting hearse.

Mourners lining a narrow lane, mourners waiting in silence, mourners crying out in anguish (picture left by Gopal Senapati).

Howrah’s police morgue off Haat Lane was witness to the morbid aftermath of the Bankim Setu tragedy on Sunday afternoon.

Politicians from rival camps, policemen on duty and onlookers from adjoining rooftops braved the rain to gaze at what is now a way of life and death in Howrah — rash driving by old and unfit vehicles on streets where traffic policing is all but absent.

Among the five victims from Sankrail were two members of the same family. Shila Roy, in her mid-30s was going to see her husband, Radhanath Roy, admitted at Calcutta Medical College with an eye infection.

“She was travelling on that minibus along with a relative of hers, Pushpa Roy. We could not break the news of her death to her husband till late on Sunday. He is devastated,” said Natabar Mondal, Shila’s brother.

A similar tragedy has devastated a Choudhury home in Kalyani. Newly-wed Sangita, 19, is recovering from injuries sustained during the bus accident, and her condition is said to be stable. But she hasn’t been told yet that her husband, Gopal Choudhury, 22, did not survive the crash.

The couple from Kalyani was headed for Howrah station on Saturday evening when the minibus smashed through the flyover railings of Bankim Setu.

Gopal Choudhury was brought to Howrah Orthopaedic Hospital in a critical condition. He died around 7.30pm. Sangita Choudhury too was brought to Howrah Orthopaedic Hospital but then shifted to the BR Singh Hospital’s surgical ICCU ward.

At the Howrah District Hospital, allegations of “negligence” and “lack of facilities” were hurled by families of those undergoing treatment.