BENGALURU: To demonstrate the efficacy of state-of-the-art equipment that cuts through metal bodies underwater, a massive mock drill that involved the retrieval of three bodies from railway coaches stuck underwater was carried out at Hejjala on Tuesday.
The demonstration is part of a five-day specialised training being carried out at the Indian Railway Disaster Management Institute to handle disasters.
A scenario was enacted wherein a bridge collapsed sending the coach of a train running on it collapsing into three pieces and falling into a water body.
“Fifty-five participants from Indian Railways, National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the US-based Braco which manufactured the Ultra Theric Cutting Equipment and the Life Saving Society of India which trained the divers were involved in the Rescue and Retrieval Operation,” said J Senthil Kumar, Assistant Commandant and Nodal Officer at NDRF.
Divers in lifeboats retrieved the bodies trapped inside the coaches while looking for survivors. “Later, trained cutters sliced through a portion of the train coach to retrieve the bodies. A team on shore was constantly communicating with them,” the nodal officer said.