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Relatives sick of answering media queries

Soroor Ahmed in Patna

While, in the emergency ward of the Patna Medical College Hospital, relatives of the victims of Monday's plane crash were praying for their survival, those in the autopsy ward have accepted that the inevitable has happened and their dear ones are no more.

In a telling comment on the intense media glare during tragedies like these, some relatives told visiting VIPs that they were tired of answering questions from the media.

Some of them, like Chetan, nephew of one of the victims Dr B B Sinha of Patna, were busy helping people engaged in performing the last rites of their relatives. Dr Sinha was lucky to die in his home town where his relatives stay. Others were not so fortunate.

Till late evening, relatives of some of the victims had not yet arrived from Delhi, Calcutta or elsewhere. Doctors and other hospital employees were busy shifting bodies to the cremation ground. Ambulances were lined up outside the hospital.

For a change, the emergency ward wore a totally different look, as if to compensate for the initial mismanagement in the rescue operations.

Everyone was on his/her toes. The entire fleet of doctors, nurses and other staff were keeping a constant vigil on the seven injured patients battling for their lives.

The government has offered to get all of them treated in Delhi at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Rohit Ranjan's uncle told rediff.com that they were taking him to Delhi by the special flight at 1845 hours (IST). Rohit, who suffered multiple fracture on both his hands and had his face badly burnt, is working in a private firm in Calcutta. He was on his way to Patna, his home town, on an official tour.

When this correspondent arrived at the hospital, Director General of Police K A Jacob was inquiring from the patients and their relatives about their welfare.

The relatives had one major complaint. They were tired of answering questions, especially those from the media. "We are giving the same reply to all the newspersons," said the aunt of Poonam, on whose house the plane crashed. Poonam is critically ill. She has not been informed that her father and brother perished in the tragedy.

The VIPs who made a beeline to the hospital included Bihar governor Vinod Pande, Chief Minister Rabri Devi, her husband Laloo Prasad Yadav and Union Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav. It appears to have had a salutary impact on the functioning of the hospital.

In the evening, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived on a visit, possibly because many of the victims were from Calcutta.

See full coverage of the Alliance Air crash

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