Pune:
Death toll in Pune's German bakery blast rises to 16 as a Sudanese patient succumbed to injuries in hospital on this morning.
Two youngsters had died a few days ago after fighting for survival for a week in a Pune hospital.
They were Rajeev and Vikas, both just too young to die.
Rajeev Agarwal, a final year student of Pune's Symbiosis College, was with his five friends at the German bakery at the time of blast. His friend Abhishek Saxena from Lucknow died two days after the blast. While Rajeev and three other friends had sustained severe burns. Rajeev died on Sunday morning while the three are now out of danger.
The son of a lawyer from Kolkata, Rajeev was in Pune for the past five years. A brilliant student, he had initiated the law school's legal aid cell. He had also cleared his company secretary examination and wanted to pursue a career in corporate law.
On the night of the blast, Rajeev was burnt badly and doctors even had to amputate a leg in their attempt to save him. For his family and friends, the last few days have been a nightmare --- swinging from hope to despair.
"I am deeply shocked. Rajeev would have completed his degree course in just three months. He was a bright student. I can imagine what his father must be going through cremating his young son," says Vice Chancellor of Symbiosis Deemed University Dr SB Mazumdar.
A pall of gloom that's spreading across colleges in Pune even as the death toll is increasing everyday. And it's not just family, relatives and friends, but the entire city that's mourning the deaths.
And the horror stories continue. Twenty-three years old Vikas Tulsiani, who had completed his engineering in telecommunications from Pune's DY Patil engineering college just last year, was preparing for the GRE exam. Vikas wanted to go abroad for his studies.
Since he stayed very close to bakery he used to frequent the place for his favourite sandwiches and coffee.
Vikas, who was also badly burnt, died on Sunday morning, even as India grieves for another young life lost in a mindless act of violence.