Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

57-yr-old calls son from under the debris, rescued

- Tanushree Venkatrama­n letters@hindustant­imes.com

Rajesh Doshi, 57, who was buried alive in the Ghatkopar building collapse for 14 hours, got a second lease of life early Wednesday morning, all thanks to his mobile phone.

Here’s how. Doshi got buried under the debris with his mobile phone. Around 6pm in the evening on Tuesday, Doshi made a call to his son from under the building rubble, saying his legs were trapped.

The call helped the fire brigade locate him, but it took the authoritie­s another eight hours to find him.

Doshi, a resident of the illfated Siddhi Sai building, was rescued around 2.45am and was admitted to the adjoining Shantinike­tan hospital. His condition is now stable.

The fire brigade and hospital officials told Hindustan Times Doshi has been kept under observatio­n in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

The fire brigade officials first removed the rubble from his face to help him breathe better. “His son then gave him some lime juice and water,” Doshi’s friend Lalit Upadhyay said.

A rope was released, but it took almost half-an-hour to cut the slabs and get him out.

According to eye-witnesses, NDRF removed a woman from the rubble around the same time, but she was dead. .

When Doshi was removed, he folded his hands in a thank you gesture to the fire brigade, said an eye-witness said.

The building collapse in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area which left 17 dead figured in the Maharashtr­a assembly on Wednesday with the opposition Congress and Nationalis­t Congress Party (NCP) demanding stringent action against those responsibl­e for the tragedy.

The Opposition stuck to its demand for an immediate discussion on the incident and forced the three adjournmen­ts of the House, rejecting the government’s proposal to discuss the matter later in the day.

 ?? REUTERS ?? Firefighte­rs remove debris as they search for survivors at the site of a collapsed building in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar on Wednesday.
REUTERS Firefighte­rs remove debris as they search for survivors at the site of a collapsed building in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar on Wednesday.

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