Nil recovery. Of the 67 bodies at the Panipat Civil Hospital morgue, 50 carried this tag. Bodies charred beyond recognition, identification has become a difficult task. Until evening, only about a dozen could be placed. As for the rest, it will take time. The local police say that from the 67, they have been able to make out 26 were men, 14 women and 13 children. Of the remaining 14, they are not sure.

At the morgue, they are leaving nothing unturned, turning out pockets, holding up every scrap of paper, photographs of children, half-burnt passports, Pakistan ID cards.

ASI Ranjit Singh came across 55-year-old Shafiq Ahmed’s ID card and a scrap of paper which had a phone number and Ghar (Home) written next to it. From this reporter’s cellphone, he dialled the number. “I am calling from Panipat. Was there anyone from your home on the train from Delhi to Lahore?” As he paused, a voice came on the line: “Yes, my father was on the train. So were my two brothers, Sami and Haris. How are they? Should I go to Lahore to fetch them? What has happened? Call my cousin in Delhi, he put them on the train.”

We called Wasim Khan, Shafiq’s nephew in Delhi. “We found Shami and Haris in serious condition at Safdarjung in Delhi. We are coming to Panipat,” he said. Two hours later, Wasim wept as he identified his uncle’s body: “My father has not been well, uncle had come to check on him. He had come to India after 18 years and we were trying to get his visa extended but it couldn’t be done. What am I to tell his sons now? He lost his wife some years ago. He was the only one working in the family.”

... contd.