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Ferrying the dead |
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By: Alisha Coelho |
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Date:
2008-11-30 |
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Place: Mumbai |
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Rustam Ali had helped injured civilians during the '93 blasts also | For ambulance driver Rustam Ali (49), getting the injured to hospitals is just another day on the job. However Wednesday's terror attacks sent a chill down his spine as they brought back terrible memories of the 1993 serial bomb blasts in the city. Ali ferried 10 injured and dead people from the Taj to JJ Hospital.
"I thought back to 1993 when there was city wide curfew. We rushed many patients to JJ Hospital but we were shaking all the while. This time, I knew I couldn't hesitate and kept my eyes on the road," said Ali who's been working with Kumbharwada Welfare Centre's ambulance since 1985.
Ali now says that the events of the few days gone by are in the past. "I am just happy that I was able to do my bit in these times," said Ali.
Meanwhile good Samaritans like fashion designers Nandita Mahtani and Surily Goel popped into the hospital to offer rations like sheets to wrap the deceased in. "We have 300 bottles of blood in surplus thanks to the countless volunteers that came in to donate," said JJ dean B M Subnis. Due to an overload at the post mortem centre, three forensic professors were added to the team that was struggling to finish operations on more than 92 bodies including the four bodies of terrorists brought in from the Taj Hotel. "They were all young boys, aged 20 to 25 and it's shocking that they were brainwashed into committing such a massacre," said Subnis. |
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