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Rediff.com  » News » 'I'm grateful to God for keeping me alive'

'I'm grateful to God for keeping me alive'

By Onkar Singh in Meerut
April 11, 2006 00:54 IST
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Dr Usha Sharma, principal of Meerut Medical College, has confirmed that they have received 30 bodies from various hospitals in Meerut.

50 people died in a fire that broke out in a trade fair at Victoria Park, Meerut, Monday evening. 

One patient named Suman Garg, who had received 100 per cent burns succumbed to her injuries within hours after admission.

"We have only two patients now. One is Jitendra, a 28-year-old government employee and 53-year-old Narendra. Jitendra has 35 per cent burn injuries and Narendra has minor fractures and hopefully both should survive. We have shifted some cases of people with burn injuries to Delhi hospitals where the relatives of patients insisted they would like to take them to premier hospitals for treatment," Sharma said.

In the morgue, it is a gruesome scenario. The dead can barely be identified and none of the relatives have so far been able to identigy the dead.

Hundreds of people whose near and dear ones have not returned home after the tragedy are visiting the morgue in order to find out if their kin are among those who were not fortunate to survive.

Narendra, who had his own stall at he Victoria Park exhibition ground, was lucky to escape with minor fractures.

"The fire began in the food plaza around 6 pm and within five minutes there was no way anyone could have escaped. I'm grateful to God for keeping me alive," he said.

He hopes that the administration will take due precautionary measures in the future so that such tragedies could be avoided.

Mithan Lal Gupta, a 65-year-old man, was running from pillar to post to find out about his son Sanjay Garg, 33, and his grandson Rahul, 8. He carried their pictures in his pocket and was showing it around to everyone.

"I have searched all the hospitals of Meerut and have checked the morgue, but I have not been able to locate them," he said as he broke down and could not speak further. 

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Onkar Singh in Meerut