Injured robbed of belongings, even the dead weren’t spared

I lost my daughter and my son is battling for life. While I was shouting for help, someone picked my mobile phone from my pocket. DEEPAK, a parent of a victim

AMRITSAR: With cries still echoing at the accident spot in Amritsar, a few miscreants from the crowd made most of the opportunity to rob the dead and injured of their belongings.

The accident that left 61 dead within fraction of seconds, was not the only unfortunate event as a few bystanders robbed the victims of gold ornaments, wallets, mobile phones.

Jyoti Kumari, the mother of Vasu, 17, who died in the accident, said, “I lost my son to the negligence of the administration and organisers of the function. We found his body at the civil hospital but his mobile phone worth ₹20,000, wallet and gold chain were missing.”

Kamal Kumar, the father of Tarun Makhan, 19, said, “My son had gone to watch the Dussehra celebrations with friends. After the accident, his friends brought Tarun’s body home on a cart. His mobile phone is still missing.”

Deepak, who lost his threeyear-old daughter Nandani to the accident, said, “I went to celebrate Dussehra with my daughter and son. I lost my daughter and my son is battling for life. While I was shouting for help, someone picked my mobile phone from my pocket.” He received injuries in the leg.

KIN LOOK FOR BOY’S REMAINS AFTER PICS OF HEAD APPEARED

Vijay Kumar, a wholesale dealer of shoes and resident of Dharampur, said his son Manish, who had passed out of Class 12 and was unemployed, had left the house at 5 pm on Friday, but hasn’t returned yet.

“As we heard about the tragedy, we started searching him, but failed. We visited all the hospitals of the city throughout night, but did not find him. Finally, we saw a picture of a severed head lying on the tracks on social media,” he said.

Vijay Kumar believes the picture is that of his 19-year-old son. Manish’s younger brother, Ishu said the administration had shown them a leg, but they are not sure whether it is Manish’s.

MORE THAN 20 BODIES STILL UNIDENTIFIED AT MORTUARIES

Rajneesh Arora, regional transport officer (RTO) Amritsar, who has been deployed at Amritsar civil hospital’s mortuary house, said, “There are more than 10 bodies here, beyond recognition because of their severe limbs”. As per the district administration, around 20 bodies remain unidentified.