Thane building collapse: Distraught children in endless wait for kin

THANE: Karan Bhure's wounded eyes lit up with joy when he saw his mother but the reunion proved shortlived.

The two-and-a-half-year-old boy was brought to Thane District Civil Hospital at 3 AM on Friday. A couple of hours later, his mother too was wheeled in.

Hospital officials said the distraught child, badly wounded in head and eyes, and his mother talked before she suddenly fell silent a few hours later and passed away.

The mother's body was wheeled out and the news of her death not yet broken to the child as the hospital staff taking care of Karan wait for a family member to come and take him.

Karan, who made his way out of the vast rubble of concrete and mangled steel in the Shil Phata building collapse on Thursday, may have been orphaned as his father too is missing and feared dead.

Sandhya Thakur (6), who was rescued yesterday, after being trapped under the debris for nearly 36 hours, too has nobody from the family to take care of her. Two days into the tragedy, there has been no clue about the parents of the girl, who has suffered multiple fractures, and authorities suspect they might be dead.

The hospital staff is taking care of both the kids with the help of some samaritans.

Sangeeta Prabhu, from IIT Bombay, saw her story on television and is among those looking after Sandhya.

"I feed her milk and pray that the child recovers fast," said Prabhu.

Seventy-two people died and 60 others were injured when a seven-storey illegal under-construction building collapsed in Shil Phata area on Thursday.