The pain of five-year-old Syed Mohsin is at once symbolic in its pathos and starkly different in its intensity. The boy has lost his mother, uncle, two sisters and one brother and was brought along with his aunt to Ambejogai in a semi-conscious condition. However, the boy displayed exemplary presence of mind and gave his father's address in Aurangabad to the authorities. Only when the father reached the hospital, did the boy break into tears. Brave even in the tragedy, whenever the hospital staff consoled him and assured him that his mother would return, the boy would say, ``Nahin, ab meri mummy nahin aayegi.''

Perhaps the innocence of the boy helped him face the unkind cut of the destiny. Not so for B Sridhar, an engineer fromWaluz near Aurangabad, who reached Parli today. He has lost his wife, mother and a two-year-old daughter in the accident. They were going to Secunderabad after a visit to Shirdi. ``Why is God so cruel? Why everything at once? I can't take it so suddenly,'' Sridhar kept wailing.

K Teja, another grieving relative, came to claim his younger brother's body. ``My brother, just 20-years-old, was here to enquire about an MBA course,'' he recalled, eyes misty with fond memories of his brother.

For Narsamma from Halwal village in Secunderabad, fate turned celebration into a horror as he lost six family members. They had come to the Kannad village to attend a marriage ceremony. ``The accident took place while they were on their way home. I will now take the bodies to Secunderabad. I am indeed shaken by this news,'' he said.

Akbar Ali Khan's case is similar. He lost three members of his family who were going to attend a marriage ceremony in Hyderabad and were carrying with them Rs 80,000 and their jewellery.Following Khan's instructions, the railway authorities managed to retrieve the cash and the jewellery from the wreckage. The valuables have now been sealed. The cash and jewellery will be handed over to the rightful owner after the necessary panchnama is completed, Divisional Railway Manager (South Central Railway) V K Rana told The Indian Express today. Of the 24 bodies, 22 have been identified and claimed by the next of kin. These include seven women and six children.

Apart from the eight bodies which were extricated from the wreckage on the day of the accident, 16 bodies were retrieved yesterday. These bodies were sent to the Swami Ramanandtirth Rural Hospital at Ambejogai.

Dean Suresh Kawthekar told The Indian Express that the hospital was taking the utmost care of the injured admitted there. ``With regard to last rites of the deceased, we have left it to the relatives. For those who want the cremation to be done in Ambejogai, we are organising it, and for those who don't want it, weare allowing them to take the body home,'' he said.

Even though the tragedy caught the natives of Parli unawares, they have managed to come up with an efficient welfare coordination system. The Parli and Ambejogai rural hospitals instantly offered voluntary help. Even private doctors gave free medical aid to the victims. The railway authorities have also not charged the relatives who came to Parli to claim the bodies.