Jaipur: The dead bodies of 23 victims of Jaipur serial blasts are lying unclaimed in the state’s biggest Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur, authorities say.
As the series of bomb blasts ripped through the Rajasthan capital, killing 61 and injuring over 100, the victims were taken to the SMS Hospital nearby.
Soon, the mortuary was full and bodies were lying all over, including the morgue floor.
Relatives rushed in. While 33 bodies were handed over by 0530 hrs (IST) on Wednesday, the rest remained here.
The next 72 hours are crucial for these victims. By then, if no one comes forward to claim the bodies, the hospital authorities will hand them over to the police for state burial.
A doctor, who did not sleep attended to patients through the night, said they had kept the dead in the open, hoping that they would be identified, before being shifted to the freezer.
"We have a deep freezer where we can keep 150 bodies. This kind of devastation has happened for the first time here," he told IANS.
The doctor said most victims had shrapnel injuries in the head, chest or abdomen. No autopsies were carried out.
Apart from relatives and the injured, the hospital was also swarming with volunteers of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh.
"We were helping people to identify their loved ones, either in the emergency (section) or in the morgue. We also managed and helped police to clear the traffic when the blasts occurred so that the injured could be taken to hospital fast," said Brahm Shankar Sharma.
According to him among the dead, 10 were women and three were children.
The hospital ward where the blast survivors were being treated looked like a war zone with bandages, blood, glucose bottles and plasters strewn around. There were not enough beds. Many slept on benches.
An SMS Hospital Medical Superintendent Narpat Singh Shekhawat told IANS that their hospital was treating 84 injured, of which 10 were in serious condition, while two were battling for their lives. Among the injured, about 71 victims are still unidentified.
Doctors from Udaipur, Kota, Ajmer, Jodhpur and Sikar were called in to help. "We have conducted all our operations and most people had fractures and other injuries," Shekhawat said.
Comments
0 comment