FIREMAN’S HEAD RECOVERED

Officials of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were visibly shaken when they recovered the head of a subfire officer from the site. At around 4pm, just after the CM left the spot, a machine dug up the head of the officer, identified as Rajinder Sharma.

LUDHIANA: Working for over 36 hours to remove bodies from the rubble of a factory here that collapsed after a fire, on Tuesday, officials of the National Disaster Response Force( ND RF) were visibly shaken when they recovered severed head of a sub fire officer.

Around 4pm, just after CM Capt Amarinder Singh left the spot, a machine hired by the municipal corporation( MC) dug up the head of the officer, identified as Rajinder Sharma.

The rescue team officials immediately covered the head and sent the same to a hospital in an ambulance. A search for the remaining body parts then began at the site. Soon it was realised that the officer’s body had been mutilated because it came between a beam and the floor as the building collapsed.

Other parts of the body were found to be mutilated.

An NDRF official working at the site said recovering such mangled remains of the body from such sites is not anything unusual. “But this tragedy is turning out to be the worst in terms of disaster,” he said.

As many as 80 NDRF officials are deputed at the site, along with 26 State Disaster Response Force (SD RF) personnel and 50 jaw ans of the army. Removing the debris was a daunting task for them as the officials had to take care that they do not cause any injury to those trapped inside .“We can not speed up the process as there are bodies inside. The gases are suffocating which are causing problem for us ,” added another official at the site, requesting anonymity.

While the MC had 13 JCB machines, only three can be put to use at the site at one point of time due to space constraints.

HT Rajinder Sharma’s head was covered and sent to a hospital in an ambulance; the rest of his body was mutilated.