Dwindling hope: 24 women still missing in Mundka fire

For the most part, Mouni remained clueless about the madness unfolding around her. Throughout the night till way past afternoon, she kept looking for answers. Her sister, Pooja (19) was in the building when the fire broke out.

Both the sisters took a job at the CCTV camera company six months ago, but Mouni left it soon after. Their father was no more, and their mother worked at houses. Pooja, the elder of the two, drew a salary of Rs 7,000 per month and helped make ends meet.

Mouni, her mother and her younger sister made their way to the hospital after they found out about the fire breaking out around 9:30 pm on Friday night, but soon enough were lost in the mess of bureaucratic processes. By the time Mouni listed her mother’s name with the local police officials for a DNA test, it was around 4 pm on Saturday. In between, the family made a round of the Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College.

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In her search for answers, Mouni met three young women, all former colleagues at the company. One of the survivors, Dhanwanti who sustained injuries in her right leg, told her that they saw Pooja before the fire broke out, but could never find her after they escaped.

Dhanwanti said that on Friday, the company had called for a motivational speaker and as they were sitting for a meeting, suddenly, the power went off. “There smoke started coming out from somewhere, and we could not see or identify each other. We saw a ladder, and then held on to a rope,” she recounted. Her friends ended up with burns on their hands.

Most of the relatives that DH spoke to were looking for women survivors. Reports suggested that as many as 24 of the 33 missings are women. Prithviraj of the Mazdoor Ekta Kendra, who had come to help out the families of survivors, said that the company, spread across the first and the second floors, had about 250 people on the roll, and 100 people were recruited recently. He said there was no master roll, and many of the women were not even paid minimum wages.

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“There was no attendance sheet either, and while work timings were 9 to 6:30 pm, the women stayed sometimes till 8:30 pm. There were minor fire incidents earlier, but they did nothing. The building had no ramps or exhaust, and had one exit,” he said.

A police official at the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital said that the bodies were unidentifiable. “One can not make out the gender. Relatives were looking at jewellery to identify bodies,” the police official said.

One of those whose bodies were identified was Mohini Pal (42), who was a manager of sales at the company. Her mother, who had come to the hospital, could not breathe or drink water for a while, before being whisked away. Mohini’s cousin, Sonu, told DH that she had joined the company nine years ago.

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“She was looking forward to marrying her 22-year-old son, who is in his final year of an undergraduate degree after he would have secured a job,” Sonu said. He said Mohini was standing next to the owner of the company at the meeting, but could not escape.

Another of those missing was Narendra (26) who was a graduate of Delhi University’s Arts Faculty. His elder brother, Gopal, an alumnus of the college, said that this was his second job. “He wanted to do something, especially for people,” he said.

Relatives said that the company officials also ensured that the phones of the employees were kept with them. Bhagan Ram, a survivor, who was a helper in the company, said he passed out after he escaped and was later revived by rescuers.

Pankaj Kumar Mishra, whose sister-in-law Soni Kumari, too, was missing did not know which hospital to go to. “No one has any idea, and I have just been searching,” he said