A brother’s untiring search

harrowing times: Saddam Khan (left) and Maqbool Khan at the accident site in Godda, Jharkhand. — PHOTO: SPECIAL Arrangement

Maqbool Khan has been operating an excavator at the Rajhmahal Open Cast Mine here from 6 a.m. on Saturday. Even when dusk descended, he continued untiringly, removing heaps of earth and extricating vehicles and bodies from the debris.

Maqbool does not work at the facility, but his brother Lalu Khan used to. Lalu Khan is among the workers buried in the open cast mine of Eastern Coal Fields Limited in Godda district, after a part of it collapsed on Thursday night.

“There are machines which can tell you where coal lies in the bottom of earth. But there is no machine that can tell where my brother lies in this rubble. So I have to keep on digging,” Maqbool said. After hours of search on Saturday, a body was found and Maqbool stopped for a while. It was not his brother. He started the machine again.

Lalu Khan, hailing from Madhya Pradesh, was the eldest of five brothers. He was the shift supervisor when the accident occurred.

“I was away. All I heard was someone saying on the walkie talkie ... Lalu Bhai slide ho raha hai ( It is coming down),” Hamid Raza, another brother, said. “After we came down, there was complete darkness and no cries of help,” he said.

“It was Lalu bhai who brought us here, gave us some education and ensured our employment,” Hamid said. Saddam Khan, the youngest, is quiet. Saddam and Hamid too operated the mining machines for a while.

As many workers are still missing, their family members are staying put at the accident site. Among them was Yogeswar Gope who was quietly looking for the body of his son Ladu Prasad.