In a tragic incident, a 25-year-old man named Rajesh Yadav, was left with no choice but to cover his dead two-month-old baby with a doormat, after she was found in the charred bed of Mumbai’s Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital, where a massive fire broke out on Monday, 17 December, killing eight.
Rajesh was seen carrying the brand new doormat, outside the morgue at the Dr R N Cooper Hospital, where autopsies of the deceased are being conducted since Tuesday, 18 December, The Indian Express reported.
Rajesh had married Rukmini four years ago, and they had been blessed with a baby girl two months ago. Rukmini had delivered the baby in ESIC Hospital, where during the outbreak of the fire, she had been admitted again due to a kidney-stone related problem, the report added.
Speaking to the newspaper, Rajesh, who is a cook with Skygourmet Catering Pvt Ltd, said that after Rukmini was admitted to the hospital for kidney stones, he would take the baby girl to her in the hospital ward in the morning, so she could be fed, and pick up the baby and bring her home every evening, on his way back from work.
On the day the fire broke out in the hospital, he had reportedly dropped off their baby to Rukmini around 11 am and left for work. Around 6.30 pm, he got a call from a doctor at Cooper Hospital – one of the Hospitals where the fire tragedy victims were being taken for treatment – and informed him that his sister, Dimple, who had gone to visit Rukmani, had been admitted.
After rushing there and asking around, he located Rukmini at the Seven Hills Hospital- where she had been taken for treatment after becoming unconscious due to the fumes, the report added.
In the midst of running between the two hospitals, he tried to find out if anyone had seen his daughter.
It was only around 1pm on Tuesday, that the police took him to the Holy Spirit Hospital, where an infant’s body had been brought in, covered in soot, The Indian Express reported.
Putting together the sequence of events, Rajesh’s uncle, Ram Prasad told the newspaper that when the fire broke out, the baby was in Rukmini’s hands but soon after the two women likely became unconscious on inhaling the fumes, and were taken out of the building by the rescue-teams, while the baby was left behind amidst panic and confusion.
It took Rajesh a day to locate his daughter’s body, since miscommunication between the parents and the police led the latter to believe Rajesh was looking for his baby boy. As the couple mourn the death of their two-month-old daughter, Dr Rajesh Sukhadev, medical superintendent at Cooper Hospital confirmed to The Indian Express that both Rukmini and Dimple are now stable and out of danger.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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