BENGALURU: Dhirendra Kumar, a survivor of the Kasavanahalli building collapse, was trapped under debris for 12 hours. However, Dhirendra, a painter, was lucky enough to crawl out of the rubble. He is the last one who spoke to the now deceased Hazrath, a mason, who was pulled out of the rubble more than half a day later. It was Hazrath who kept Dhirendra motivated all along, but as fate would have it, the former did not survive.
On Sunday, Dhirendra was seen sitting outside hospital rooms where the other survivors are being treated. He was treated at Sakra Hospital as an outpatient. His grouse now is finding medicines that the doctor has prescribed as he is unable to find them in any hospital pharmacy, including the one at Stanford Speciality Hospital. Dhirendra is unable to go home as he has no money to reach Gorakhpur in UP.
On Thursday evening this was least of his troubles. Staying alive was the main challenge. He told Express, “Hazrath’s hands were crushed under the ceiling. He was saying, ‘I hope God saves us. Don’t take tension.’ He kept saying this repeatedly. The beam separated us. He said he was from Siwan and I said I was from Gorakhpur. We talked for 12 hours and then after coming out I never saw him again ... not even his body.” “He said we have to kill time. We could both hear noises around us ... but nobody could hear us. But he kept saying if not today they will find us tomorrow,” Dhirendra said. “He kept asking if I’ve got any relief as his legs were trapped under the debris and he couldn’t move,” Dhirendra said. “He did mention that if he got out, he’ll hop on a train and go home first,” Dhirendra said. “I spoke to my two-year-old son Aryan after being rescued,” said an exhausted Dhirendra.
Search op called off after four days
Bengaluru: Fire and Emergency Services personnel on Sunday completed clearing the debris of the collapsed building at Kasavanahalli. The incident took place on Thursday and the bodies were handed over to the families on Sunday after postmortem. A fire service officer said the search operation was called off on Sunday evening after they came to a conclusion that no other worker was under the debris after all levels of the building were removed.