21 coffins and a night train to Katihar

Shabir has been at the LN Hospital mortuary for the last two nights and has “not slept even for a minute since the incident”. He knows the drill. The 31-year-old puts on a mask,clutches the piece of paper tightly and enters. He returns within minutes,tears streaming down his cheeks. “I lost seven close friends from my village,” he says,struggling for words.

His friends lived on the sixth floor at N-85 and worked as craftsmen,earning an average of Rs 200 a day. “We grew up together. Last week,Mohammad Tariq called me asking me to find a job in Delhi. I can’t believe this has happened.”

Just then,his friend Ashraf interrupts,asking Shabir to have a cup of tea. “He hasn’t had anything since 7 am,” says Ashraf. But Shabir refuses. “I just want to go back home. Why would anyone want to come to Delhi? Life in the village is so much more relaxed. Here,ten people lived in a room with no ventilation. It is worse than hell,” he says. Around 100 people have assembled at the mortuary,their look distant. The women stand cupping their mouths with the ends of their dupattas. At the entrance to the mortuary,blood-stained stretchers are lined up with the one or two surgical gloves carelessly strewn around.

It is 4.15 pm now. As many as 19 bodies have been lined up,all labeled and identified. Two still remain. Some say the bodies are being brought in from the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. “The bodies will go till Katihar. For those who wish to cremate or bury the bodies elsewhere in Bihar,the District Magistrate of Katihar will make arrangements,” said an official in the SDM’s office.

“The Sampark Kranti Express leaves at 11.40 pm from the New Delhi Railway Station. Ambulances have been arranged to take the bodies to the station.” It is time to leave.