AHMEDABAD: Of the 21 dead in the devasting firecracker factory blast in Gujarat’s Deesa, only 19 have been identified. Seated in a corner of the civil hospital is a father desperate to find at least the body of his missing 11-year-old son.Two days ago, Santosh Nayak had arrived in Deesa with his wife and two sons, to work in the firecracker factory. Unforeseen tragedy struck on the second day of work, claiming 21 lives. The bodies of Santosh’s wife and elder son, Dhanraj, have been recovered; his younger son, Sanjay, is still missing. Sanjay, only 11-years-old, was also working at the factory. Santosh’s voice was weighed down by grief as he recounted his loss to local media: “I come from Handiya village in Madhya Pradesh. My wife and two children came to Deesa for work. Three of them are gone. Two bodies have been found, but my child is still missing.”He added, with tears streaming down his face, “Two days ago, on Amavasya, we came from Indore. My family worked for just one day. The next day, tragedy struck. My little boy was also made to work, earning just Rs 400-500 a day. We had never been here before. The contractor brought us. And now, only I remain.”His voice cracked as he pleaded for answers. “Doctors confirmed my wife and elder son, Dhanraj, are dead. But where is my younger son, Sanjay? The police tell me the investigation is ongoing. They say, ‘Take the bodies and go.’ But tell me—how can I keep taking dead bodies?”Desperate, he questioned the cruel reality before him. “I am poor. How can I come back again and again? How will I travel from Madhya Pradesh each time? It would be better if all three bodies were found at once. At least then, I could take my entire family home together.”Santosh struggled to find his words. “I have three children… two of them died in this blast,” he said, his voice trembling.Overcome with grief, he could no longer hold back—his sobs echoed through the crowd as he broke down in front of the media, the weight of his loss too heavy to bear.
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