Kolkata/Kanthi/Kharagpur: The smoke over the gutted site in Anandapur's Nazirabad somewhat cleared by Tuesday but uncertainty and grief haunted families as they waited for news of their relatives, who have been missing ever since the blaze broke out at a decorator's godown and an adjoining momo chain warehouse early on Sunday. While 11 people were killed, 23 workers, at least 16 of them from East and West Midnapore, have since been untraceable.
Many of the missing persons were skilled decorators and flower workers who stayed on the factory premises. The difficulty is identifying the charred remains added to the families' agony and wait. "Our boys came here to earn a living, not to disappear into ash," said a relative of a missing worker from Panskura.
The last time Garia resident Mousumi spoke to her husband, Pankaj Haldar (35), was around 3 am on Monday, when he told her he was trapped inside. "There is no chance of escaping" were his last words. After a sleepless night, when Mousumi reached the spot, she was told her husband's charred skeletal remains had been recovered from the spot. Pankaj, the sole breadwinner for the family, was one of the three night staffers at the godown.
Among those reported missing, many were from East Midnapore. Srikrishna Maity, Bapan Majhi, Samaresh Pathikar, Tapan Dolui, Buddhadeb Jana, Soumitra Mondal, Debaditya Dinda, Bimal Maity, Gobinda Mondal, Rampada Mondal, Kshudiram Dinda, Sashanka Jana and Sandip Maity came from Tamluk, Panskura, Moyna and Nandakumar to work at Anandapur. Families, on reaching the site, have repeatedly been begging police and officials for news of their kin but have not received any clear information.
Three men from West Midnapore's Pingla—Krishnendu Dhara, Anup Pradhan and Biswajit Sau—worked as flower decorators. No one seems to have any news about them. "My brother spoke to me the night before," said Anup's sister, Priyanka. "His phone got switched off the next morning, we have no news of him."
East Midnapore DM Eunic Rishin Ismail said officials were sent to the households. "Also, three officials are in Kolkata to coordinate with local rescue teams," he said. Sunil Hansda arrived from Jhargram to take his brother Rabish's remains home. "I'm yet to tell my family," he said.