Dharwad building collapse: Man pulled out after 62hrs under rubble, a miracle rescue

Mangalore Today News Network

Dharwad, Mar 22, 2019 : A man who was trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building in Karnataka for over 62 hours was brought out safely by rescue teams this morning, NDTV reported.

 

The number of people who died after the four-storey building collapsed in Karnataka’s Dharward earlier this week has gone up to 15.  Four to six people are still trapped in the debris as rescue teams are continuing the operation for the fourth day. As many as 55 people were injured in the incident.

Senior Karnataka police officer MN Reddi shared a video of Somu, in green shirt, being rescued from the rubble. Visibly disturbed and shocked, the young man was seen walking out with the support of policemen. An officer embraced him just as a stretcher was brought to his aid.

64 people have been rescued so far.

The four-storey building, some portions of which were under construction, crumbled in Dharwad’s Kumareshwar Nagar, about 400 kilometres north of Bengaluru, on Tuesday.

Over 300 personnel, including the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), fire and emergency forces are on the ground to provide assistance to relief operations.

The engineer of the construction project was arrested from Maharashtra. Four of the five partners of the property surrendered before the police late last night.

The building, which belonged to one of the relatives of former Congress minister Vinay Kulkarni, came crashing on Tuesday.

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy visited the site yesterday and told the media that several people were suspected to be trapped under the rubble.

The BJP legislator from Hubballi-Dharwad Central and former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar too visited the spot. He demanded a "judicial probe by a sitting high court judge" saying he was not satisfied with the inquiry ordered by Mr Kumaraswamy.