Thrissur: In a single moment, the beautiful paddy fields of Mundathikode in Thrissur were filled with human bodies torn apart. Fields that had just been harvested and were waiting to welcome new shoots looked as though they had been painted with blood.
Those once known and loved vanished in an instant, leaving not even a strand of hair behind to help identify them.
At the Thrissur Medical College mortuary, people stood helpless, looking at charred and lifeless bodies of those who had walked beside them just the previous day, wondering if it was truly their own kin. It was a moment that made one pray no human being should ever have to endure such a sight.
Aju was moving between mortuaries and hospitals searching for his elder brother Abhijith (27), a native of Kottappuram, who used to help at fireworks sheds during festival seasons. Even as he asked everyone he could, "Have you seen my brother?", and faced repeated disappointment, he held on to hope.
At that time, a volunteer and a police officer from the mortuary stepped out asking if anyone from Mathrubhumi was present. They wanted to know if someone could help identify a person suspected to be seen in a video recorded the previous day. As a representative present at the site, one stepped inside.
What lay inside was among the most horrifying sights of the Mundathikode explosion-a man reduced to just a head, bearing some resemblance to Abhijith. It was a sight one could barely look at even for a moment. When it was confirmed that the person in the video was not his brother, Aju lost even that fragile hope.
Abhijith and three others have simply vanished-no one knows where they went or what exactly happened; not even a trace remains. "My brother has a thick beard, a stud in his ear, a chain around his neck, and a bracelet on his hand. He is a healthy young man," Aju said, clinging to these identifying details with hope. Yet, as he looked at packed and unrecognizable body parts in mortuaries, searching for any possibility, his face reflected only despair, grief, and helplessness.
The mortuary also witnessed multiple people claiming the same body, as the remains left behind were so unidentifiable.
At a time when every Thrissur household should be celebrating the Pooram festival, when relatives should be arriving in joy, people are instead forced to conduct last rites. The people of Thrissur now pray to Lord Vadakkunnathan that such a tragedy should never befall them again.