Two bodies left, many still missing

8226; 55-year-old Motilal Passi of Nallasopara, working in Gold Mohar Mill as a temporary staffer, is still missing. But his wife is still hopeful.

8226; 24-year-old Bharat Sitaram Mishra, living in Andheri8217;s Marol Naka slum, is missing. His parents live in Nashik.

Three days after serial bomb blasts tried to stop Mumbai on its tracks but couldn8217;t, there are only two bodies left to be identified. But the list of missing with either the police or the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, is substantial.

There are still people trickling in at the Thane Civil Hospital which has a body of a 25 to 30-year-old male waiting to be identified. Sion Hospital8217;s morgue received the head and upper torso of a male in his late 50s around 3 am on Thursday from the Mahim station.

8216;8216;We have been getting queries from relatives since yesterday but it hasn8217;t been identified yet. We even tried matching it with the remains of a lower body at Parel8217;s King Edward Memorial Hospital, but that was not successful,8217;8217; said a volunteer.

Kallu Patel, whose son is missing, told Newsline from his village home in Pakhadia, Madhya Pradesh: 8216;8216;We received a phonecall from the police saying they found Manoj8217;s diary in the blast compartment.8217;8217; The 27-year-old Manoj has been in Mumbai for the last 20 days looking for a job.

8216;8216;Our friends went to all hospitals and police stations but they couldn8217;t find him. We will wait till Monday after which we will come personally to look for him,8217;8217; Patel said, adding he will have to borrow money to get here.

There are many others like Patel. Mohammed Raul Shaikh, a resident of Carnac Bunder, has been doing the rounds of city hospitals and police stations every day looking for his 60-year-old father, Abbas Sheikh, who left Marine Lines to go to Borivali around 5.30 pm on Terrible Tuesday.

But now he has given up8212;he has left his contact number everywhere in the hope that someone gets back with some information. 8216;8216;There is no chance he is among the two bodies left as they are far too young,8217;8217; he added as an after thought.

A few more days and Sheikh8212;like at least seven families Newsline was able to track8212;will be declared missing. 8216;8216;Once a person is declared missing, his or her family will have to wait for five years to be eligible for the sanctioned compensation in this case Rs 5 lakh,8217;8217; said a police officer.

However painful, an explanation of this is that in severe blast cases, several bodies end up being mutilated beyond recognition and physical verification or identification is just not possible, the officer said.

8216;8216;These end up getting declared missing,8217;8217; he added.