The woman injured in the Ahiritola building collapse was united with her newborn daughter at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Thursday, a day after she lost her three-year-old daughter in the tragedy.
Priyanka Ghorui, the 24-year-old mother, sat on her bed anxiously as nurses handed her the baby.
Doctors said the mother patted the baby for a while before holding her close to her chest. She then lowered her face to have a close look at her baby, the first since she gave birth on Wednesday afternoon.
The doctors had shifted the newborn to the nursery and kept her under observation for 24 hours, monitoring the child’s health every hour.
The mother, battling a severe trauma since she suffered a fall that had left her trapped under the debris of her house in Ahiritola in north Kolkata, was shifted to another unit for observation.
“My brother has not been able to visit his wife because he has developed chest pain,” Jayanta Ghorui, elder brother of Priyanka’s husband Susanta told The Telegraph. “My wife was present when Priyanka was united with her daughter. She kept asking about her mother and elder daughter.”
Some of the family members had visited the traumatised mother at the hospital early on Thursday after burying Priyanka’s three-year-old daughter Srijika at a burial ground in Ultadanga.
Priyanka’s mother Champa Garai, too, died of injuries.
Susanta, the second of three brothers, remained disoriented throughout Thursday, family members said.
“We have not informed our mother — Latika Ghorui — about the death of my niece. We only told her that Susanata’s wife has delivered a baby girl,” said Prasanta, the youngest of the three brothers.
Some family members said they would take Susanta to meet his wife on Friday.