Tales of horror,and a will to live

Close by lies Amarjit Singh in the ortho ward. The toes of his right foot had to be chopped off to save his life.

“I was told that my foot was stuck under the debris and they removed it,” said an visibly disoriented Amarjit whose thoughts seem to be more on trying to talk to his family than a lost foot.

While Niyamant and Amarjit are counting their blessings,Veer Devinder — another survivor of the disaster — who literally walked out of the debris on Tuesday morning could manage only one line. “I do not how come I am alive but I am alive.”

Similarly stuck inside a small hole,Satyender had spent the last three hours of his captivity under the debris speaking to the rescue workers trying to save him. With a muffler wrapped around his neck and alert eyes,Satyender had told them: “Bring me out with my foot intact. Do not remove my foot.” While the rescue workers managed to free his foot stuck under a huge mass of debris,doctors tending to Satyender expressed little hope of salvaging his foot,the ankle of which lay completely crushed.

They say it is not easy to revisit pain and agony,but Chottu with his head bandaged,came back to the very spot to locate his missing cycle,mobile phone and his salary of Rs 4,500 for 15 days.

“I was sitting with five others just inside the gate and were chatting when the building collapsed. I was stuck under the debris and lay there for some four hours. At about 2 am,I could find my way out. When I walked out,I could see labourers standing around the site. No police or rescue teams had reached the spot by that time.”

Chottu is not happy about the way the owner of the company or other officials have treated many like him who managed to save their lives on their own.

“Some of us managed to come out of the debris on our own. I was asked to go to the local Devi Talab Hospital on my own. The moment I reached there,they gave me two injections,tied this bandage and asked me to go to sleep. The next morning,they handed me two tablets and asked me to leave. I kept complaining of pains but no one was ready to listen to me,” he said.

“I want the rescue team to help me find my mobile phone,slippers and cycle. I lost my salary in this ruckus. I am the only earning member of my family and I need the money,” pleaded Chhottu.

Friends look for bodies: ‘Have to inform their families’

Durga Devi,who has been sweeping the floors of the Shital Fibers for the last four years,is thankful that her 17-year-old son Strohan did not want to work at the factory on Sunday when it collapsed.

“He had attended the Saturday shift and did not want to go on Sunday. I forced him to go to the factory but he ran away at 10 pm. Sometime later,the building collapse. God has saved my son,” said Durga.

While Durga was lucky,some like Santosh have been paying visits to the civil hospital and Devi Talab hospital for the last two days trying to locate their friends. “Our families live in villages back home and we have become friends at work. I know some labourers who are missing since the day of accident,” said Santosh.

As he and his group waited under a tree at the Civil Hospital,an ambulance brought in one more dead. The deceased,who seemed to be a young boy,was almost flattened on the stretcher. The police officer on duty asked Santosh and his friends to identify the body. Santosh walked up to the body gingerly only to recoil. “No one can identify him. It is simply not possible,” he said.

Seema,whose husband Satinder is undergoing medical treatment at Devi Talab,is a heart patient herself. “It is a relief to know that my husband is fine. But no one is looking after us. There are not enough medicines and my husband,whose hand has been badly hurt,is crying out for pain killers but he is not getting any. Please ask them to help us,” pleaded Seema.