For two mothers, the charred remains might have been their boy

Amid the nauseating stench of death inside the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth, two elderly women were at each other’s throats. The bone of contention was a body. One claimed it was her son “Honey”. The other insisted it was her boy “Zeeshan”.

There are 39 bodies of the Baldia factory fire victims at the morgue, burnt beyond recognition. The body of Honey or Zeeshan or perhaps somebody else is one of them.

Weeks after the devastating blaze that killed more than 250 people, the families of the victims are still looking for the remains of their loved ones.

“So far we have handed over 164 bodies to the families. But 39 of them are still with us,” said Edhi spokesperson Anwar Kazmi.

In many cases, the bodies that were eventually handed over to the families after identification turned out to be someone else’s, but taking them back is a daunting task for the officials.

“Both women have their sons’ company cards without their picture making it quite difficult to sort out the issue,” said Salman Asghar Ali, an operator at the ill-fated factory who survived the fire and also the two women’s neighbour. “But even if they have pictures, that won’t make a difference as the body is completely charred.”

Ali said Edhi officials were eventually asked to keep the body with them till the families came up with the identification papers.

Unbearable losses

Most of them next door neighbours to each other in Sector 3 of Baldia Town, the families know what happened to whom. With financial prospects nearly zilch, they help each other arrange food for the children and the elderly.

Babar Abdul Saeed, a factory worker and a survivor, lost eight members of his family. His wife Nasreen, four nieces, brother-in-law, a nephew and an aunt were among the victims.

He had found their bodies through a rescue worker’s help.

He did not recognise his wife at first, as her face and torso was completely burnt. But as soon as he recognised her dress, he fainted.

“A small piece of her floral printed shirt was stuck to her knee. It was the dress she wore to work that day.”

Saeed’s elder sister, Rehana, lost five of her children who worked at the factory. A diabetic, the grieving mother said if she got even one of them back, it would make her really happy.

“Most people at least have a body to fight over. I have no clue what happened to my children.”

Her children, 23-year-old Zoya, 16-year-old Rubab, 15-year-old Sony, 14-year-old Sehbo and 12-year-old Aijaz, had asked her to let them work.

“They worked in a 10-hour shift every day and didn’t take a day off. They asked me to rest at home. I want nothing else, but my children. They deserve a decent burial.”

Having lost almost all that she had, Rehana’s relatives have found a job for her in Hyderabad, so that she “stays busy and does not die from starvation”.

‘I see dead people’

Saiqa, Saeed’s younger sister who lives just a mile away from the factory, said she does not even look at the place where so many people she knew had met a tragic end.

She has been to almost all the hospitals and morgues in the city to look for her nieces and nephew, whom she now believes have perished in the fire. “Now, I see dead people all around me.”

One of the first people to know that a fire had broken out “at the back of the factory”, Saiqa, along with a few of her co-workers, was among the first ones to walk out of it.

“I just shouted ‘fire’ for all of them to listen. Some had started praying. I dragged them out.”

There was a reason behind the slackness. A similar tragedy had been averted “three months back”.

“But that didn’t turn into a disaster. The doors were not locked. This time, as soon most of us came out, the doors were locked and many were stuck inside.”

Many victims of the deadly inferno were children, working at the factory at the age of 13 or 14 years.

“During a tour by a foreign delegation, the children were given a day off, whereas we were ordered to say that we get a handsome salary of Rs10,000. We were actually given Rs6,000 without a day off.”

The hated Mansoor

Almost all the workers share a hatred for a man named Mansoor. Nobody knew his last name and when asked, they referred to the aliases - Bhai or Lala - by which he was called.

Saiqa recalled that Mansoor was the first one to flee the factory, when the fire could not be controlled. “He pretended that he had a heart attack and said he was feeling claustrophobic. He was taken away in the first ambulance that arrived. Nobody saw him after that.”

The workers said he had a home and family in New Karachi. But after the fire, nobody knew their whereabouts.

“A general manager and contractor for the Ali Enterprises, Mansoor was known to iron out petty problems for the owner,” Ali said. “That included dealing with the goons in the area and dodging extortion demands.”

Ali demanded that Mansoor should be remanded and questioned about what had exactly happened as he “surely knew a lot”.

Many of the workers did not deny the reports about the factory owner receiving “extortion threats”, and insisted that the probability “must be investigated.”

Tuesday 2 October 2012

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-134806-For-two-mothers-the-charred-remains-might-have-been-their-boy