Dubai: Relatives of four-year-old Kindergarten Starters student Mohammad Zubair and his three-year-old sister Zainab, who perished in the Mangalore air crash along with their parents, have been struck with another cruel blow of fate after it emerged that the body of one of the kids was mistakenly handed over to someone else.
This tragic error came to light when authorities in India found they had just one child's body at the Government Wenlock Hospital mortuary even as Zubair and Zainab remain unaccounted for.
HEIGHT OF CARELESSNESS
The shocking revelation has left the kids' maternal uncle, Zadir Ahmad, seething with rage. "This is the height of carelessness. The whole thing has been handled very unprofessionally. They have given away bodies to just about anyone without ascertaining the identity. It was like a first-come-first-served kind of thing," a distraught Ahmad told XPRESS over the phone from Mangalore.
Zubair and Zainab, with parents Mohammad Ziad, 41, and Sameena, 36, were on their way to Mangalore to attend the funeral of a matriarch.
Their elder siblings Rauhan, 13, and Rabia, 10, stayed behind with Sameena's brother, Zadir Ahmad, due to unavailability of tickets.
On Saturday evening, the two surviving kids flew to Mangalore with their uncle Ahmad, but for an agonising task - to identify the bodies of those they loved most. They have met with little success. Their mother's body has been identified, but the bodies of their father and two younger siblings remain untraceable.
"DNA experts have taken Rauhan's blood sample to see if it matches with any charred remains. The reports will come after a few days. But whatever the findings, only one of the two kids will get a burial. Now that one body has gone missing, we will never be able to perform the last rites of the other child," said Ahmad.
SCHOOL SHELL-SHOCKED
It's not uncommon for little kids to miss school on the first day of the week. Sure enough, when Zubair didn't show up last Sunday, his class teacher Meeta Asarpota thought he was enjoying an extended weekend in his Al Qusais home.
The news of Zubair's death reached The Kindergarten Starters on Monday, casting a pall of gloom over the school and leaving teachers numbed beyond belief.
Teacher's account
"It's hard to believe he's gone forever. He was such a darling, so well-mannered and disciplined. He took a keen interest in colouring and was pretty good at it. I reckon it made him happy because he used to flash this big endearing smile when we used to give him colouring work," recalled an inconsolable Midhat Khan, who was Zubair's class teacher before he went to KG2 in April.
Asarpota said Zubair was an obedient student and a quick learner. "When he came to my class he was shy and quiet, but of late, he had started interacting with his classmates. He was also generous and caring," she said.
Ahmad said Rauhan and Rabia are emotionally drained. "They went to the Dubai airport with me to see off their family. I guess they will have to live with the enduring memory of their parents and siblings turning back and waving at them as they headed to the departure lounge."
