Two elderly women who went missing around the time of the Mahakumbh stampede in Allahabad on January 29 that left at least 30 persons dead, have returned to their homes in Malda safe and sound, much to the relief of their families.
Anita Ghosh, a 65-year-old woman from Buraburitala of Malda town, had gone to attend the Mahakumbh with some others.
“I was near the Sangam early on January 29. Suddenly, there was an abnormal rush of people all around me and I fell on the ground. The crowd kept swelling and I could not get up to my feet unaided. I lost consciousness,” recalled Anita on Saturday from her home.
She added that she lost her cell phone amid the commotion. However, she was lucky as some people from Howrah spotted her and picked her up.
“They took me to a medical camp. I could not remember the phone numbers of my son and others and thus could not communicate with them,” she added.
The group from Howrah, who had been to Allahabad on a bus, brought her to Howrah in the same vehicle. From there, they arranged the ticket for a Malda-bound train and on Friday night, Anita reached home.
“We were here, panicking as we watched the news of the stampede on television. I called her up on her cell phone but she didn’t respond. Frankly, I was really scared thinking what could have befallen her. I thank those who helped her return home from my heart,” said Samir, Anita’s son.
On Saturday, family members of Tulo Ghosh, a 56-year-old woman from Bejpura, a locality under Harishchandrapur police station of Malda, heaved a sigh of relief as they found her standing at the door.
Tulo, along with her brother-in-law Rameshwar Das and his wife Shibani, reached Allahabad last Monday. On Tuesday night, she got separated from them. The stampede occurred in the wee hours of Wednesday.
“I was not carrying any phone and was scared whether I could return home. I had some money with me and somehow reached the railway station,” she said.
At the station, she was lucky to have met a group from Katihar in Bihar.
“They told me to accompany them as Katihar is near Malda. I boarded the train with them and reached Katihar. Today (Saturday), I took a train to Malda from Katihar and got down at Harishchandrapur,” said Tulo.
When she went missing, her worried family, hearing the news of the stampede on television, sent two relatives to Allahabad to look for her, said a member of the Das family. Her brother-in-law in Allahabad had also been searching for her, the relative added.