Rescue teams procured cribs used in railways to stabilise the basement and remove the debris safely. (Express Photo by Pavneet Singh Chadha) Two days after a part of a Gurgaon residential tower collapsed, the body of a woman who died on the first floor was recovered. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), fire department and district administration, who worked to retrieve the body, Saturday procured cribs used in railways to stabilise the basement so they could remove the debris safely.
On Thursday evening, a large portion of the sixth floor collapsed all the way to the first floor at Chintels Paradiso society’s tower D in Gurgaon’s sector 109. Sunita Srivastava, one of the two women to die in the incident, stayed on the first floor. Her husband Arun was rescued after a 16-hour operation.
At 11.35 pm on Saturday, the body of Sunita was recovered from the debris, confirmed Gulshan Kalra, deputy director (Tech) fire department. He said it was a complex procedure, which involved strengthening the basement and first floor and then shifting the load and removing debris.
Earlier in the day, officials said the cribs, typically used to support heavy objects in construction, can absorb a higher load of debris and will help in rescue efforts. They said some chunks of rubble and plaster had started falling from the upper floors and a major challenge was not destabilising the building any further.
While rescue operations were on, officials also discussed strategies to ensure the stability of the tower. Ankita Choudhary, SDM, Gurgaon North, said that after consultation with the engineering wing, it was decided on Friday night that the basement would be stabilised first: “We were trying to procure railway cribs from a private construction firm for reinforcement. Since their railway cribs were already in use… we procured the cribs from the Railways division in Delhi. Their expert engineers were also engaged. The cribs will make the base stronger. The main challenge was that the body was buried underneath all the debris. If we had taken even the slightest risk, the rubble could have collapsed and then there was a risk of destabilising the entire tower.”
In the evening, she had said the body had been located: “It was anchored to avoid it falling into the rubble. We took all precautionary measures…”
Through the day, the rescue teams continued to stabilise the basement using steel planks and poles. Several bags of earth were put at the ground level so there was no dangerous movement of debris and evacuation can be carried out safely, officials said.
Residents of the society said that due to the weight of the debris on the first floor, there had been a bulge and crack in the ceiling of the ground floor, with small chunks falling off.
On how the teams were working their way inside, Kuleesh Anand, Deputy Commandant, NDRF, said in the morning: “After stabilising the basement, the first floor, which has all the debris, shall be reinforced as much as possible. After that, filling will be done and then load will be shifted from above. Only when that is done will we be able to reach the body.”
“All the debris is hanging on the beam on the first floor. Some cracks have started emerging. During the rescue yesterday and today , small chunks of concrete from the rubble have fallen. Our main concern is that something doesn’t fall from above. We cannot put the load on the ground floor suddenly, so the first-floor slab has to be stable and then load shifting can be done,” said Anand.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
