BHUBANESWAR: Since Tuesday, Om Prakash Rath’s mother and other family members have been arriving at the stone quarry in Tapang near Jatni at the crack of the dawn, only to camp there late into the evening. As the rescue operation plays out in front of their eyes, they have a prayer on their lips.
The water-filled stone quarry is where the physiotherapy student went missing after attempting to save his friend who had slipped into the water on Monday afternoon. Over the last three days, multiple rescue teams have mounted a huge campaign to trace Om but in vain. For the family members of the 21-year-old, it has been a harrowingly agonising wait as hope fades out with each passing hour.
The Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and Odisha Fire and Emergency Service which were engaged in the search operation from the beginning have so far not been able to find Om’s body.
Later, teams from INS Chilika, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and a start-up of the National Institute of Technology (NIT)-Rourkela joined the massive search operation but all efforts have brought no result so far.
Om’s family members met Khurda collector Chanchal Rana and he assured to provide all the support. “Apart from the search operations by various agencies, a start-up of NIT engaged a robot and sound navigation and ranging (sonar) system to find the youth. The NDRF too joined the operation today,” Rana told The New Indian Express.
The INS Chilika reportedly also contacted navy personnel in Visakhapatnam and Kochi requesting them to dispatch advanced equipment to carry out the search operation.
Sources said the firefighters are using a waterproof camera but face challenges because, at some points, the depth of the quarry is even more than 250 feet. The rescuers suspect Om’s body could have possibly been stuck inside a pit in the quarry which is spread over about three to four acres.
Police said Om was a native of Ranapur in Nayagarh district and was pursuing a physiotherapy course from the Abhinav Bindra Sports Medicine and Research Institute (ABSMARI) located near Pahal on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. His mother works as an attendant with a high school in Khurda while the youth has an elder sister.
On Monday, he along with three friends had gone to Tapang area for sight-seeing when one of his friends reportedly slipped into the quarry. Om jumped to his rescue. The youth who initially fell was rescued but Om is feared drowned.