70-year-old Baset Murmu had been waiting with bated breath to see his 29-year-old son Bhaktu Murmu coming out of the Uttarkashi’s Silkyara tunnel, where 41 workers were trapped for the past 16 days and finally rescued on Tuesday evening.
Although Baset’s wait ended as his son, along with other trapped workers was rescued, unfortunately, Baset breathed his last the same day. It is suspected that Baset, a resident of Bahda village under Bankisol panchayat in Dumaria Block in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district, died of a heart attack on Tuesday.
“He was concerned and worried about Bhaktu’s well-being since he got trapped in the tunnel on November 12. On Tuesday morning, he suddenly fell from the cot around 8am and died of a heart attack. I informed other relatives,” Baset’s son-in-law Thakar Hansda told HT on Wednesday.
Baset’s elder son Ramrai Murmu has been working in Chennai while his youngest son, Mangal Murmu, who works as a daily wage labourer, had gone to a nearby village at the time of the tragic incident.
Bhaktu’s mother Piti Murmu, his sister and brother-in-law were in the house when his father Baset died on Tuesday morning.
According to the family members, Baset has been depressed since he came to know about the tunnel trap incident. “Father was getting depressed more and more every day with no positive information of Bhaktu coming out of the tunnel. This led to the heart attack,” they said.
Dumaria medical officer in charge (MOIC) Dr Saiba Soren said he was not informed about Baset’s death and he got the information from this correspondent on Wednesday morning.
“In such cases, acute depression and trauma can lead to high blood pressure, leading to a heart attack. Head injury after falling from bed can also lead to death. Anything conclusively about the cause of the death can be said only after the post-mortem,” Dr Soren told HT on Wednesday.
Dumaria circle officer Chanchala Kumari told HT on Wednesday morning that she was in Bagdi village enquiring about the tragic death of Baset Murmu. “I had met Baset Murmu, father of Bhaktu Murmu, two days ago. He was quite well at that time,” said Kumari.
