A fortnight before his birthday, the first one after his wedding in February last year, firefighter Amit Kumar Balyan lost his life during a rescue operation in Peeragarhi. His family in Meetnagar of Loni is still to come to terms with the loss.
Amit Kumar Balyan (28) died when he, along with other firefighters, got trapped in the rubble following a blast at the operation site.
“It’s a big loss for the family, but I am proud of my son. He sacrificed his life while saving others,” said Babu Ram, Amit’s father.
“He had completed basic fire training at Fire Safety Management Academy. He was posted at Kirti Nagar fire station as a fire operator,” said Atul Garg, DFS Director.
Amit is survived by his wife, father, mother, a younger brother and two younger sisters. His wife Shivani is a constable with the U.P. police.
“The couple had got married in February 2019. He left the house on Tuesday for work and was supposed to return on Thursday night. We did not inform his wife about the incident till she returned from work,” said a relative.
Trapped for 6 hours
“Amit was the last fireman to be taken out of the debris. He remained trapped for almost six hours. He was on the ground floor of the building when it collapsed,” added Mr. Garg.
His father, a Delhi Police ASI, is posted in Anand Vihar. He was seen mourning outside Sanjay Gandhi Hospital mortuary where Amit’s body was kept for a post-mortem. The family said they will take Amit’s body from the hospital on Friday morning, said a DFS officer.
“We will take his body to the Fire Safety Management Academy in Rohini to pay tribute and then will hand it over to the family,” the officer added.
His neighbours also rushed to the spot soon after they received the news of his demise. “We were informed around 10 a.m. We rushed to the spot and waited for the officials to rescue him. He had got married recently and it [demise] is very unfortunate,” one of his neighbours said.
