After nearly 20 hours of nightmare, a watchman, who got trapped beneath the debris of the five-floor building that collapsed at Narayanguda here on Friday, was rescued on Saturday morning.
Eleven labourers and a two-year-old boy got buried alive while five more were injured when the building under construction collapsed around 2.30 p.m. Police, fire service and municipal officials supervising the rescue operations retrieved all the bodies by 8 p.m.
“We did not believe any one would have survived as huge concrete slabs and bricks fell one on the other. But rescue team workers got alerted when the heard feeble shouts around 4 a.m.,” Narayanguda Inspector, G. Jogaiah, told The Hindu. They immediately stopped usage of cranes and poclains that were making huge noise.
The rescue team workers slowly drilled a hole on the concrete slab and managed to pull out the watchman to safety by 8 a.m. Fortunately, Mr. Mallaiah did not suffer any serious wounds. He sustained bruises and was in a position to speak but was in deep shock. The watchman was rushed to hospital for treatment.
Keywords: Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, Building collapse, Rescue operation, Watchman,
