Joy as two 'dead' men return home

Trivandrum - The family members mistook a body they found at the Kollam District Hospital with one broken teeth.

While large number of people are running from one hospital to the other in Kerala frantic search of their kin missing in the Puttingal temple fireworks tragedy at Paravur in Kollam, two people who were considered dead by their family members have returned home.
Pramod (29) reached his house at Mammoottil, near Venjaramood in Trivandrum district, six hours after his family members cremated a body resembling him. The family members took the youth dead after they failed to establish any contact with him after the mishap.
The family members mistook a body they found at the Kollam District Hospital with one broken teeth. They claimed the body after the post mortem and cremated it in the compound of their house at 3pm in accordance with Hindu religious rituals.
The grieving family and the neighbours could not believe Pramod was alive when they received a call around 8pm. They accepted the reality only after he reached home an hour later.
In the other case, a 55-year-old man returned home immediately after his daughter and the relatives claimed a body as that of him. Sasi, a native of Kanjirathumood at Kadkkal in Trivandrum, had gone to the temple to sell food items.
The family members thought he was dead after they found his shop and equipment at the festival site in a damaged condition. They later rushed to the hospital at Kollam and found an unclaimed body in a totally burnt condition.
Sasi returned to his house before the family members brought the body home. After confirming that Sasi was alive, the family members returned the body to the hospital authorities. It was later claimed by a family from Venjaramood.
Family members of many reported missing are in such confusion as a large number of bodies brought to the hospitals from the accident site were charred beyond recognition. Sources at Trivandrum Medical College Hospital said about 20 bodies were yet to be unidentified.
Though DNA test would be required to identify the bodies, the authorities have not made any arrangements for the scientific test in hospitals. The authorities in most hospitals are now focusing on the injured.
A large number of people are, meanwhile, frantically searching for missing people. A group of employee of a public sector unit at Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta district could not locate their colleague who is missing.
People from faraway places like Kottayam, ThrissurTrichur and even KozhikodeCalicut are camping in Kollam to get clues about their kin missing in the tragedy. Their searches in hospitals in Kollam and Trivandrum ended in vain.
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