All in the family: one dead, one still trapped, one critically injured and 3 hospitalised
Times of India | 26 June 2026
Kolkata: The collapse of an under-construction warehouse in Taratala on Wednesday morning buried dozens of workers under concrete, steel and twisted iron. For one family from Bihar’s Munger, it also destroyed the fragile source of income that had drawn nearly an entire generation of men to the same construction site.
Outside the autopsy unit of SSKM Hospital on Thursday, Rohit Kumar, 28, was trying to process the scale of the tragedy that had engulfed his family. He had come to identify the body of his youngest brother, 17-year-old Ghee Kumar, who died in the collapse.
Six members of Rohit’s family — his father, four brothers and a cousin — had been working inside the 32,000sq ft under-construction warehouse when the structure came down. One brother is dead, another is critically injured, a cousin remained trapped under the rubble till late on Thursday evening, and others are in hospital with injuries.
“We were working there only to earn enough to survive and support our families,” said Rohit, who spent the previous night at the accident site. “People ask why so many members of one family were working at the same place. The answer is simple — poverty. We did not have any other option. In fact, when so many of our family members got work at the same site, we were happy that everybody would be together to take care of each other. Little did we know what was in store.”
Ghee Kumar was among those killed. Another brother, Manichand Kumar, 22, suffered serious injuries and was admitted to SSKM, where doctors said his condition was critical.
Their father, Rajendra Ram, escaped with minor injuries. Two other brothers, Mannu Kumar and Sohid Kumar, were also injured and are undergoing treatment in hospital. Their injuries are not believed to be serious.
But the family’s ordeal had not ended by Thursday evening. Rohit’s cousin, Srijan Kumar, was still trapped beneath the debris as rescue teams continued their search.
“I am at the hospital but some relatives are at the crash site waiting for my cousin to be pulled out,” said Rohit. “We don’t know whether Srijan is alive or not. The wait is unbearable.”
The family’s grief underlined the human cost of one of the city’s worst industrial accidents in recent years.
Around 40 labourers were buried under concrete slabs, mangled iron beams, steel rods and corrugated tin sheets after the warehouse collapsed. Rescue teams worked through Wednesday night and all through Thursday, using heavy machinery and digging by hand to reach those trapped in the wreckage.
Rohit, who works elsewhere and was not at the site when the structure gave way, learnt of the tragedy through frantic phone calls. What followed was a blur of hospital visits and anxious hours near the rescue zone.
“At first I could not believe it,” said Rohit. “Then I started calling my brothers. Nobody was answering. One by one, I learned who was injured, who survived and who did not.”
The family had migrated from Munger in search of work. Like many migrant labourers, they depended on daily wages and often worked together at the same construction sites. The men pooled their earnings to support families back home and meet household expenses. For Rohit, the collapse has turned a long struggle for survival into a catastrophe from which he fears the family may never fully recover. “We don’t know how we will recover from this now.”
Rohit said the men had taken up the work because they had no choice. “They were poor men trying to earn an honest living,” he said. “Nobody goes into dangerous work because they want to. They do it because their families need food, rent and medicine. My brother was only 17.”