Telangana factory blast: Time ticking, families wait in anguish as search continues

As hours turned into days, desperation grew among families still searching for their loved ones. With no official word, many now sat confused between hope and heartbreak, unable to move forward, yet slowly losing faith.Outside hospitals and the accident site, families camped out in the heat and rain, holding up photographs, cross-checking lists and searching for answers. For many, their only link to the missing was a blood sample taken for DNA testing, a process that felt endless to these families.Anita Kumari, who rushed to city from Odisha with 22 members of her extended family, searched for her husband Shivaji Kumar.

“Every minute feels like a day.

We gave our blood for DNA testing on Tuesday morning. But we have no idea when we’ll get result. No one tells us anything. I just want to see my husband’s face again, and forget all of this, like it was a nightmare,” she told TOI.It is the silence from authorities which has proved unbearable for families, who move between hospitals and mortuaries. Many of the missing were workers on contract, just men who came to city in search of livelihood now leaving their families in despair.

Jitendra, who arrived in Hyderabad to find his brother Chhote Lal, said, “We don’t know if we’ve lost our brother or if he’s still alive, suffering somewhere. That thought is killing us. Our sister came all the way from Madhya Pradesh, and all we hear is silence. Why are we being punished for trying to survive?”Outside mortuary, Savitha Bai sat hunched, her face visibly exhausted, her voice barely audible. Her son Deepak was still missing.“He’s been working here for several months. He was happy and hopeful. He would call me and say he was saving money to come home,” she said. “It breaks my heart to think that he might never come back. A part of me still believes he’s out there, alive and safe. But when I look around, at these families, at the silence, I keep losing that hope.”Left his tea to be on time, says SoniaOn the pavement outside the govt area hospital in Patancheru, Sonia KA sat quietly – her fivemonth-old daughter in her lap.

She looked up only when a doctor walked past, hoping to get an update on her husband’s health. Bhimrao Vittal Kandhare is among the 34 injured in Monday’s blast. He suffered 80% burns and is currently battling for his life in the ICU. His condition is critical. The ill-fated Monday was 24-year-old Bhimrao’s second day at Sigachi Industries as a daily wager.

Originally from Maharashtra, the couple got married a few years ago and had been living in Bandlaguda of late.

Recalling their final moments together, the wife said: “He asked me to make tea that morning, but didn’t finish it. He said he couldn’t be late.” Sonia was allowed to see him once on Tuesday but denied entry on Wednesday. “I just want to know if he’ll make it,” she said, who has a heart condition.19-year-old justin’s first day at work...It was Surya Nolan Justin’s first day at the factory. The contractor had sent him in as a helper and the 19-yearold was only too glad to be able to return home that night with his first day’s earnings.

But within the next few hours, everything changed. Now, the family is shuttling between the accident site and hospital, hoping to trace him down. “Soon after we heard about the blast we rushed to the factory. But we couldn’t get any information.

We have been living in uncertainty since then,” said his brother, Moses — his voice heavy with grief. That Justin’s name is on no list and they have not been able to identify him from the bodies of the deceased, have only made things worse for the family.“We gave our blood samples for DNA testing on the day of the accident itself. But we are yet to get any updates,” added Moses who works as an accountant in Bandlaguda. The family is now caught between hope and despair. “He just joined there. And now we don’t even know where he is,” said the brother, sharing how their father, who works at a gas station, too has been visiting hospitals and the accident site — asking anyone who might have an answer about his son.