Sanatan Pramanick’s wife, nephew and elder sister were among the 19 people who died in the Chorebagan pandal stampede on Saturday evening.
Pramanick, from Arambag in Hooghly, went to the pandal on Saturday evening with his wife Piyali, 25, elder sister Tagar Bhej, 40, and nephew Sandip, 14.
On Sunday afternoon, he was standing outside the Kolkata Police morgue near Mohammad Ali Park with a distraught look to collect the bodies of his three dear ones.
Pramanick narrated the horrifying experience:
We were standing in front of a curved area near the exit. Suddenly, there was pressure from the crowd that was building behind us. They pushed us forward. Some slumped to the ground amid loud noise and chaos.
The volunteers draped in saffron jackets were also blowing whistles and asking those through with their visit to exit at the earliest.
However, the crowd in front of us was not moving, and they, too, started pushing us back.
The four of us were caught in this pressure of crowds from both sides. Soon, we got separated from each other. I was pushed to a side of the curved exit.
My wife, nephew and elder sister were desperately trying to wriggle their way out of the trap.
I extended my arm so they could be pulled out. I failed amid a sea of people.
I could feel they were gasping for breath as they were being suffocated. After some time, they fell unconscious and collapsed.
When they were brought to Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, doctors pronounced them dead.
I have been visiting pandals in Calcutta with family members for years, but I have not seen such poor crowd management like this.
Where was the administration?
I find it difficult to accept that I lost three of my near and dear ones because of sheer mismanagement by the organisers
I heard a lot about this Puja on social media. Had I known that they would fail to manage the crowd, I would have never visited this pandal.
Why did the state administration not run a check on their preparedness?
No compensation can make up for my loss.