Hamed Mirzaei says 12 members of his family, including his wife, were killed when a residential building in Tehran was struck during what he described as a United States-Israeli attack on March 9.
His 26-year-old wife, Mohadeseh, was among those who died. The couple had married a year earlier and had been preparing to start a family.
Mirzaei said he had left the building shortly before the attack to check in at work. At about 2.30pm, his wife messaged him asking him to buy headache medicine on his way home.
He tried to call her to ask which medicine she wanted, but her phone was engaged. A guest staying at the property also failed to answer when he called.
As he travelled home, Mirzaei said he heard a whistling sound and then felt the ground shake. “The first missile had just struck,” he recalled.
He repeatedly tried to contact his wife and other relatives, including his parents and grandparents, but all their phones were unreachable. He said he initially convinced himself that his home could not have been hit.
By the time he arrived, five more missiles had struck the building. The property had been reduced to what he described as its skeleton, with flames still burning and the staircase destroyed.
Neighbours were trapped beneath the rubble and were helped to safety by the Red Crescent. Mirzaei remained at the site, hoping rescuers would find his relatives alive.
“Twelve members of my family were missing, and I still couldn’t bring myself to leave,” he said.
Mirzaei returned to the ruins every day for 20 days, searching among the debris and remnants of the explosions. His wife and sister-in-law were killed, along with his mother and father, grandparents, aunt’s husband and daughter, uncle, and his father’s cousin, cousin’s wife and their child.
Seven months after the bombing, he said his grief had not eased. “I miss them. I miss them more with every passing day,” he said.
Mirzaei said the building had been constructed by his grandfather and his father’s uncle, with apartments divided among their children. It was where he had been born, where his father had been born and where he had hoped his own child would be born.
“I am the only one left. There is no one else from my family. I am utterly alone,” he said.
He said he now returns to the site each morning, unable to leave the place where his home and relatives were destroyed. “I feel as though my life is buried here, and I return every day, hoping I might find some piece of it. But there is nothing left.”
Mirzaei said he no longer knew what purpose remained in his life. “The difference between me and my family, who were killed, is that they were buried beneath the rubble, while I am still walking around,” he said. “Other than that, I am just as dead as they are.”
