Kochi: A pall of gloom descended on late TG Joseph’s family at Eloor when they came to know about the death of Major Abdul Rahim, a soldier in Afghanistan. When the Afghan soldier was killed in the bomb blast, Joseph’s hands, which turned a living memorial for the family, was scattered into pieces with the soldier.

Major Abdul Rahim got his hands transplanted with the hands of Joseph who was killed in a bike accident on May 10, 2015. Abdul Rahim, a bomb squad expert in Afghanistan, army lost both his hands while defusing bombs in 2011. He met with the accident while defusing the 31st bomb. As Joseph’s family was ready to donate his hands, Abdul Rahim had successfully undergone hands transplantation at Amrita hospital in Kochi 4 years from his accident.

Joseph (54) had a brain death following the accident on May 10, 2015. The hand transplantation made headlines on national and international media.

With Joseph’s hands, Abdul Rahim joined duty to serve his country. He was killed when he was defusing a bomb set by the Taliban under a car on February 19. According to reports, Rahim was in the hitlist of Taliban as he was always successful in defusing bombs. So far, he had defused over 2000 bombs.

“We were happy that his hands are living in the soldier. But unfortunately, we got another shocking news before relieving from the pain over Joseph’s demise. The whole family used to wait for Rahim’s visit to Amrita hospital. But now he is no more,” said Joseph’s wife Francisca.

With packets of sweets, Rahim used to visit his dear ones in Kochi every year.

Rahim wanted to settle in India

Apart from Joseph’s family, Rahim had made friendship with another Keralite TR Manu who was the first patient to undergone hand transplantation at Amrita hospital. Manu used to clear Rahim’s doubts on the treatment. He phoned Manu three days before his death.

TR Manu and Abdul Rahim

“Communication with Rahim was very difficult for me. He neither knows English nor Hindi. He communicated to all in Pashto language which is his mother tongue. So I used Google translate to understand his language,” said Manu.

Manu told that Rahim was aware of the danger in his job. Hence, he wanted to resign his job and settle in India by starting some business.

“When he arrived in Kochi last year, he wanted to meet Joseph’s family. But he was hospitalised after suffering diarrhoea,” said Manu.