Translated Content:
According to Rokna, Mokhtar Bakuei was Yasmin and Armin Bakuei's uncle. He pulled them out of the rubble with his own hands, a few buildings away from their home.
Traveling in Time; Memories of Mozaffar al-Din Shah: The car we had previously ordered to be brought from Brussels, we finished the process today, they bought it and brought it
On Friday morning, June 13, when Mokhtar was awakened by the sound of an explosion to go to Fire Station No. 71 on Kerman Street in Tehran, he heard that Narmak Street had been hit during the first Israeli attacks on Tehran.
Narmak Street reminded him of his sister Mona's house on Hajizadeh Street; the house where Ali Bakuei, a nuclear scientist and boxer, and his children Armin and Yasmin lived.
Yasmin Bakuei, 23, was a master’s student at Sharif University, and her brother, Armin Bakuei, 16, an elite student in the experimental field, was scheduled to take the experimental entrance exam next year and aspire to become a doctor. Now, their uncle, Mokhtar Bakuei, who has been a firefighter in Tehran since 2008, is talking about the heartbreaking moments when their bodies were found in nearby houses.
Mokhtar Bakuei says he saw the initial news on TV: “Until my wife saw on her phone that Israel had hit Narmak. It was written somewhere that a house on Haji Sadeghi Street had been hit, and there was a photo of it. I recognized the facade of our building. I quickly got dressed, started the engine, and went to their alley; I think I arrived about five minutes or so after the fire department.
Then I saw the fire department there. I looked up and saw that unfortunately there were no fourth and fifth floors. I tried to get a hat from one of the kids and find an entrance with some clothes. I went inside but I couldn’t go any further than the third floor. There was a fire and one of the large columns in the hallway was bent and wouldn’t let me go any higher. I came out and saw that unfortunately access was very difficult and there was nothing I could do. I quickly went to the station, put on my clothes. I went back to the scene of the incident and we found the building next to the entrance and by that moment we had found two of the bodies. It was a difficult scene but that’s our job anyway, unfortunately. Well, we didn’t think something like this would happen to us.”
Mokhtar found his sister Mona with her head severed from her body; almost like the condition of “Ali Bakui”, their family’s son-in-law. “Armin” was found a few buildings away; just like “Yasmin”. Now Ali, Mona and Armin have been buried but “Yasmin” hasn’t; Forensic officials have said that the family must wait for the results of the DNA test taken from the remaining pieces of her body, so that if it matches the test results of her parents, they can bury her too.
Mukhtar says: “I had put all my strength into finding my niece. She was an elite girl and her uncle’s love. We had a very good relationship. I knew where her daughter was sleeping. I searched there, but unfortunately there was so much rubble that it took us two days to find her. Unfortunately, what we had guessed was correct; that she was at the end of the building opposite; in the end, we found several pieces of the body, along with pieces of clothing and socks. I showed them to my sister, and she said, ‘Yes, this is Yasmine’s clothing.’ Then we put those pieces in a freezer bag and sent them to the forensics, but of course, they still haven’t given me an answer, so that if possible, God willing, she can be buried.”
Mona was like a mother to Mokhtar: "I would go to her house every time, and when I wanted to go out, she would give me two bags of food and toys for the kids. She was very kind to me. I had a very good relationship with Armin. He loved football. He memorized the names of all the players. Apart from football, he was very interested in medicine. He would say, 'I must become a doctor or a surgeon,' and he was really determined. He had made his decision. I would tell him, 'Armin, I'm so glad you made your decision at this age. You're already setting your goals for yourself.' This made me very happy. I always encouraged him. Yasmin was his uncle's love. Our relationship was very good. We talked a lot. I gave her positive energy. I guided her. She said, 'I want to reach a place where I can become an entrepreneur and take others under my wing.'"
The days when Mukhtar searched for the bodies of his loved ones in that building were difficult: "They told me that you could be on this project so that you could remove all those who were martyred from the area. I was there for four days, and after four days, when three of them had already been found, I was doing some work. I was crying in the building and looking for them. My colleagues realized this story and tried to do the work themselves quickly. They quickly handed them over to the ambulance to be taken to the forensics. They didn't let us see each other very much, as the saying goes. The firemen really left no stone unturned. We are like family anyway. We spend many hours together. My friends, who didn't go home because of me, stayed by my side. Until we finally pulled them out from under the rubble."
Mukhtar was on operations throughout the war; He and his colleagues pulled at least 15 bodies from the rubble of the exploded buildings: "The whole firefighting system, in my opinion, is that you want to give your life for the people. All you can think about is saving the life of your fellow countrymen. When you go to the scene of the accident, everything else disappears from your mind. Nothing comes to your mind except saving that person's life."