Cruel repeat of history for the family as two members had also died within a gap of four days some 10 years ago
TEAM HERALD
CANACONA: It was a double tragedy for a family from Canacona within a gap of four days, as the mother who was grieving over the loss of her son in the collapsed building of Ruby Residency, died at her residence on Tuesday night.
And as fate would have it, Parvati Bhagat (80) died barely a few hours before recovery workers pulled out the body of her son, Santosh (45) from the rubble of the collapsed building at Chaudi-Canacona.
It was a cruel repeat of history for the Bhagat family, as two members of the family had also died within a gap of four days some 10 years ago.
Parvati Bhagat of Khalwadem-Canacona had been hoping against hope that her son, Santosh, would be rescued from the building that collapsed on Saturday afternoon.
A distraught Parvati had refused to eat food ever since Santosh, her younger son and a welder/fitter by profession, had failed to return home on Saturday evening.
Parvati was going to the toilet of her house at about 11 pm on Tuesday, the fourth day of the Canacona building tragedy, when she collapsed and died on the spot.
Santosh was reportedly working on the staircase grills, while the building came crumbling down and buried all workers who were inside the building.
Sources close to the Bhagat family, which consisted of Parvati, her late husband Vishwanath, and their three sons, recalled that the elder son, Ganraya, had died under unknown circumstances about a decade ago and Vishwanath had passed away barely four days later.
What had added to the anguish of the Bhagat family was the fact that the body of Santosh had been located by recovery workers at the staircase of the collapsed building at about 7.30 pm on Tuesday evening while Parvati was still alive.
As the workers were making preparations to retrieve the body, they were suddenly warned that the adjacent building had tilted and they were asked to rush out from the rescue site.
Though the building did not tilt further, the recovery workers from the NDRF, Fire Services and PWD were prevented from resuming operations for rest of the night as a precautionary measure.
When authorities ruled out any immediate danger, recovery operations resumed late Tuesday morning. The first of the two bodies recovered on Wednesday morning was identified as that of Santosh Bhagat.
Santosh is survived by his wife and their 8-yr-old daughter.
The grieving Bhagat family later performed the final rites of both family members. While the body of Parvati was cremated on Wednesday afternoon, the body of Santosh was consigned to flames a short while later.
