Nepal Earthquake: Painful to see my brother gasping for air

Deepak and Mark along with their family have been helping out the two teams. At a distance of 50 metres, the NDRF team is leading the operation to reach Vinod, while a Chinese team is working to free John.

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During Saturday’s earthquake, a multi-storey building collapsed on another wreaking havoc. The two teams — assisted by the Armed Police Force (of Nepal), Nepal Army and Nepal Police — began the rescue n Sunday. It resumed work on Monday with a canine search and victim location camera that can move 310 degrees. Deepak, who is a hotelier, told the NDRF that at least 40-50 people were trapped under the rubble. Narrating incident, he said, “My younger brother Major Vinod, who is posted at Nagarkot, visited Kathmandu on Fridays. He left my hotel at 11.50 am and went inside the shopping mall on the ground floor of the building behind my hotel. We could hear his cries for help for sometime but by the time the entire building had collapsed. About 15 people managed to come out but not Vinod,” said Deepak. The NDRF team from Patiala succeeded in drilling holes and located the bodies of Vinod and two others.

On the other side, the China team has succeeded in drilling holes to send medical assistance to trapped John. His legs are stuck between two heavy slabs and the extent of damage is not known. John’s condition has started deteriorating and a team is immediately sent to fetch an oxygen cylinder.

A rescue team official said: “We first need to stabilise his condition and also check his legs to ascertain if his veins are ruptured. We have to carefully remove the slabs as any wrong cut can make the structure cave in.” Mark, a Class X student, is not sure if his brother will come out alive. “It is so painful to see my brother gasping for life and I am not able to do anything,” said Mark. As the night sets in, there is no word if John can be taken out.

For Deepak, it is very frustrating to see the NDRF wind up its operation for the day. Inspector GD Hiralal Dasrath of 7th Battalion of NDRF, Bhatinda, said: “We have located three bodies including that of the Army Major. It is not possibly to take them out as we have to cut deeper and it will take time.”