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Even after 48 hours, families of missing hoping for miracle
MAHAD (RAIGAD): It’s been over 48 hours since a few vehicles fell into the Savitri river after an old bridge in Mahad collapsed, but the family and friends of those still missing haven’t lost hope of seeing their near and dear ones alive.
Jayesh Vane, 36, a businessman from Borivli was travelling to Mumbai from Rajapur in one of the state transport (ST) busses that fell into the river on Tuesday night. Hoping to hear some news about their missing kin, a few members from the Vane family are staying at the temporary help centre at Mahad.
“Our brother is the backbone of our family, which is incomplete without him. Until we don’t see his body, we won’t believe that he is no more,” said his younger brother Damodar. “He visited our hometown in Rajapur on Friday for some work. He even called us while boarding the bus. Though we are fully aware of the fateful happenings of that day, we still haven’t lost hope.”
Sunil Vaikar, 31, a resident of Khandala was travelling to his workplace in Masjid Bunder with four other family members, including a 12-yearold boy in the Jaigad-Mumbai bus. All five are currently missing.
“It’s frustrating to imbibe that five members of a family are missing and you are clueless about their whereabouts. But we will keep looking for them till the last moment. We hope they come back and our lives attain normalcy. We will stay put at the centre until we get some concrete news about them,” said Sunil’s younger brother Pramod.
SKIPPING A HEARTBEAT
Those residing at the shelter claimed that whenever a body is brought to Mahad civil hospital, they skip a heartbeat and hope that it is not of their dear one.
Ismail Abdul Wagu, 65, one of the passengers travelling to Mumbai from Lanja in Ratnagiri that night, is missing and his family is at the hospital praying for his safety.
“We will be thankful to the almighty if we find him alive. He had visited Lanja for personal work a few days ago and was travelling alone in that bus. The bus depot controller was his good friend and helped him board as he was a senior citizen. Though several bodies have been recovered from the river so far, we are still hoping to see him alive,” said Mubarak Wagu, one of the family members.
It was a routine home coming for Nehru Nagar resident Jitesh Jaitapkar (33) on Tuesday night when disaster struck. His younger brother Sudhir said, “Jitesh works as a supervisor in a private company at Jaigad and is a bachelor. Though he has a house in Jaigad, he regularly visits us in Mumbai. He often took this particular bus, as it reaches Mumbai in the morning. On Tuesday evening too he took the same bus.”
RBI employee and Samta Nagr resident Balkrishna Varak, 51, who was travelling via Rajapur-Borivli ST bus, is still missing. His cousin Prakash told HT, “He had gone to his hometown in Rajapur. He was returning home on Tuesday night and even spoke to his family before the accident.”
POOR ARRANGEMENTS
A few of the friends and family members occupying the help centre expressed displeasure over the facilities provided at the makeshift shelter. “Though we don’t like the arrangement here, that’s least of our concerns. All we care for now is to find our missing family member at the earliest,” said a relative of a person still missing,” said a relative of one of the missing persons.