Rain, slush hamper dhaba rescue operation in Solan

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, July 14

Incessant rain was a hindrance in evacuating those buried under the rubble of the Sehaj Tandoori Dhaba building today.

Though a makeshift road was carved out with the help of JCB machines to reach about 50-foot deep site, the slush made the task arduous. About 250 men from the nearby Army cantonment, police and the NDRF, Bathinda, were clearing the building rubble with the help of special equipment.

The first endeavour was to clear the rubble with the help of machines and then carefully look for the people buried under the three-storey building. Searchlights were pressed into service to continue the rescue operations as 12 Army men and some civilians were yet to be rescued, informed Deputy Commissioner KC Chaman.

He said 18 Army men had been rescued and the operations would continue until all were taken out safely. The Deputy Commissioner said it was not clear how many civilians were trapped in the rubble.

Six of the injured were sent to the Community Health Centre, Dharampur, while four critical were sent to a private hospital at Sultanpur.

Additional SP Shiv Kumar Sharma said rescue teams were conducting a thorough search of the site. The police had initially undertaken manual operations to rescue the victims. The body of the wife of the dhabha owner was retrieved.

A CRPF team from Dharampur was also lending help along with social organisations like the Nirankaris.

18 Armymen rescued

• A makeshift road was carved out with the help of JCB machines to reach 50-foot deep site
• About 250 men from the nearby Army cantonment, police and the NDRF Bathinda were clearing the rubble with the help of special equipment
• Searchlights were pressed into service to continue the rescue operations as 12 Army men and some civilians are yet to be    rescued
• As many as  18 Army men have been rescued
• It is not clear how many civilians are trapped under the rubble