A teenager’s long-awaited trip to the City of Joy ended in unspeakable tragedy.

Fifteen-year-old Saheel Sardar had reached Calcutta from a remote village in South 24-Parganas with dreams of exploring the city’s landmarks, taking selfies at its famous destinations and spending time with his relatives.

Instead, Saheel, a Class VII madrasa student from Ramchandrakhali village in Basanti, became one of the casualties when the under-construction warehouse shed collapsed in Taratala on Wednesday afternoon.

At least 11 have died in the catastrophic collapse at a construction site on Transport Depot Road in Taratala. While most victims were labourers engaged in the project, Saheel stood out as a tragic exception. Not a worker, the teenager happened to be there because his relative was employed at the site. He had plans to go sightseeing, but fate willed differently.

According to family members, Saheel had come to Calcutta last week with his maternal cousin Mostaquin. His maternal uncle, Javed Gyen, said Saheel had been eagerly looking forward to exploring Calcutta.

“Mostaquin had already taken him to a few places in Calcutta. They had planned to visit several more destinations on Wednesday. Saheel had gone to the construction site and was waiting for Mostaquin while watching the work in progress when the shed suddenly collapsed,” he said.

Mostaquin was among those injured in the collapse and remains under treatment.

“Saheel and Mostaquin, among others, were brought to the SSKM hospital with severe injuries, but Saheel succumbed to his injuries,” said a neighbour of the deceased.

Witnesses said work was on in full swing at the multi-storey construction project, with labourers engaged in centring and other activities, when a large portion of the structure gave way with a deafening crash. Within seconds, workers and bystanders were buried under the debris.

Saheel’s death cast a pall of gloom over Ramchandrakhali village. Relatives and neighbours gathered at the family residence when the mortal remains of Saheel arrived on Thursday. Grief-stricken family members struggled to come to terms with the loss of a boy whose life had barely begun.

Local sources said that at least two other persons from Basanti — Khalek Sardar and Dulali Nayak — were trapped beneath the collapsed structure. However, they were rescued on Thursday and taken to the SSKM hospital where they are being treated.

Breadwinners gone

The Taratala warehouse disaster has left a trail of devastation extending far beyond South 24-Parganas.

In Nadia district, the deaths of Rahul Choudhary and Chandrama Choudhary, both residents of Choudharypara in Krishnanagar, have plunged their families into uncertainty as both were the sole breadwinners. According to residents, six to seven workers from the locality had travelled to Calcutta for work at the construction site. Several of them are still undergoing treatment in the hospital.

In East Burdwan’s Katwa, family members of 19-year-old Rohit Choudhary said his death in the warehouse cave-in had pushed his family towards a severe financial crisis.

According to sources in Katwa, Rohit had taken up masonry work in Calcutta barely a month ago after mounting financial hardship forced him to seek employment away from home.

Working under a contractor, he hoped to ease the burden on his struggling family. Instead, his search for an income ended in tragedy beneath the collapsed shed.

“His father suffers from mental illness and is unable to work regularly, while his mother supports the family by selling vegetables in the local market,” a relative said.

“Rohit went to Calcutta to shoulder the responsibility of the family. He wanted to pull us out of poverty. Now everything is uncertain,” a family member wept.

Katwa MLA Krishna Ghosh said that the state government was standing beside the victims of the Taratala warehouse cave-in. “Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari and all of us stand beside the affected families. Every effort will be made to ensure that the administration extends all necessary assistance to them.”