Daily wage labourer Ela Rani didn't even get to see the faces of her relatives

She lost nine from her family

Listen to this article

She lost nine from her family

00:00

Daily wage labourer Ela Rani didn't even get to see the faces of her relatives

While many in her neighbourhood are now trying to pick up the pieces and move on, Ela Rani remains inconsolable.

Inconsolable: Ela Rani (left) mourns the death of her relatives at Lal
Bahadur Shastri Hospitalu00a0 in east Delhi on Tuesday. PIC/Imtiyaz Khan

Nine members of her family were killed in Monday night's building collapse in Laxmi Nagar. Ela and her husband, both daily wage labourers, were out on work when tragedy struck. Friends and acquaintances say that she didn't have a single morsel of food during the night and kept weeping outside the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital where most of the victims had been taken.u00a0
u00a0
Neighbours kept trying to comfort her but tears were streaming down her face, telling a story of extreme grief. When this reporter tried to talk to her she broke down again, wailing loudly.

"Nine persons of her family have died. Rewati (her mother), Kashi Ram (brother), Asthami (sister-in-law), Jamuna Halder (sister-in-law), Chanchal Halder (sister-in-law), Bishto (brother), Arjun (brother), Roopa (niece) and Kalpana (niece) had got trapped beneath the debris of the building. We have been told that they were pulled out but when they were taken to the hospital, doctors declared them brought dead. She has not even seen their faces," said Shabnam, her neighbour.

Ela said that she has decided to go back to her native palace in West Bengal after performing the last rites of the deceased. "We are labourers. Who cares about us? Now future has nothing in store for me and my husband," she said and again broke down into tears.

A family wiped out

Shibu, an eight-year-old boy, is another victim of the Lalita Park disaster, whose whole family got killed after being trapped underneath the debris of the collapsed building. The class III student of an MCD school lived in the building along with his parents, grandmother and a sister.
Shibu had gone to play out in the street when the incident took place. Unaware about the incident he along with his friends kept playing in the nearby area. But after sometime he and his friends realised that something has happened near his house. They then rushed towards the building and witnessed the disaster. They were searching for their family members but could not find them anywhere.u00a0 His mother Chanchal, father Vaishnav, sister Kalpana and grandmother Parvati, who were trapped under the debris, succumbed during the course of treatment at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital. One of his neighbours is taking care of Shibu and his brothers for now.