A tattoo on his left hand was all that Neha Devi had to identify her husband, more than 12 hours after the under-construction Garden Reach warehouse where he worked collapsed.
When Navin Singh’s body reached the trauma care unit of SSKM Hospital on Thursday afternoon, his facial injuries were so severe that she could not recognise him.
“I could not identify him by his face because it was badly injured. There were bruises all over it. I recognised him only from the tattoo on his right hand where his name was written,” Neha said, breaking down.
Her husband, Navin, 44, a resident of Raniganj, was among those killed in the collapse on Wednesday afternoon.
The father of three was the sole earning member of the family.
“We have an 18-year-old daughter and two sons aged 14 and 10. He was the only earning member. What are we going to do now?” Neha said.
The last time she spoke to him was around 11.30am on Wednesday, barely half an hour before the collapse. “He told me he was busy with work and would call me later. But that call never came,” she said.
Across the hospital, similar scenes of grief and uncertainty unfolded through the day as families searched for relatives among the dead and injured.
Near the trauma care unit, relatives stood in small groups clutching mobile phones, photographs and identity cards, waiting for updates from doctors, police and rescue teams.
Among them was a family from Munger district in Bihar. Five members of the family had come to Calcutta earlier this month to work at the warehouse.
Rajendra Ram, 55, and two of his sons, Manichand Kumar and Sohid Kumar, were rescued on Wednesday evening. His youngest son, Ghee Kumar, 17, was declared dead at the hospital on Wednesday.
Another son, Mannu Kumar, 19, remained trapped under the debris overnight. He was rescued on Thursday morning.
“Around 2am, Mannu called me and said he was trapped inside and asked us to get him out. I immediately informed family members at the site and alerted the rescuers,” said Santosh Kumar, Rajendra’s brother-in-law.
Mannu was pulled out early on Thursday and taken to hospital. Santosh said Rajendra had suffered shoulder injuries while his sons were undergoing treatment at SSKM. He added that Rajendra Ram’s name was mistakenly recorded as “Rajendra Rao” in the hospital’s bed head ticket.
A few metres away, another family waited outside the morgue.
Sahil Sardar, 17, from Sonakhali in Basanti, was declared dead on Thursday. He had come to visit his cousin, who worked at the site, and was due to return home on Saturday.
“He told his mother he would be back within two days. After the collapse, we could not trace him. His phone was switched off,” said his uncle, Nazrul Sardar.
“My nephew had only come to visit his brother. He was not supposed to be there. He was the only child in our family,” Sardar added.
Hospital sources said most of the injured were being treated at the trauma care unit. One patient was admitted to the critical care unit, while another was being treated in the red zone of the trauma unit.
Outside, the police maintained a handwritten register of the dead and injured and checked identity cards of relatives to help them identify their family members.