Labourer buried under building debris in Parwanoo still untraced

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, November 24

More than 24 hours after the incident, the labourer, who was buried under the debris of a five-storey building which had collapsed at Parwanoo yesterday, could not be located.

A 42-member team of the NDRF is now undertaking horizontal cutting on the ground floor to locate the labourer after completing vertical excavation of all five floors. The missing labourer was on the ground floor when the mishap occurred yesterday afternoon.

“We are now undertaking hortizontal tunnelling to locate the missing labourer as vertical cutting through the four floors did not yield any result,” said an NDRF member.

The father of missing labourer Naresh, who hails from Bhota in Hamirpur, arrived at Parwanoo today. His family members, including his wife, were having anxious moments with each passing hour as chances of the labourer being alive were now bleak.

Parwnaoo DSP Yogesh Rolta said the NDRF team in coordination with the sleuths of home guards, fire and police carried out search operations throughout the night which continued during the day today. The search will continue at night too.

Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Dr Rajiv Saizal also visited the spot last evening to take stock of the situation. Though he had directed the officials to initiate an administrative enquiry, no such probe was ordered till this evening. He directed the officials to offer all assistance to the team to speed up search operations.

Sub Divisional Magistrate Kasauli Sanjeev Dhiman also oversaw the rescue operation. He said, “The police was probing the incident while no direction had as yet been received from any official for an administrative probe. Vertical cutting was undertaken from probable sites where the missing labourer could have gone missing but now horizontal cutting was being done. Being a big building the search operation is exhaustive and will continue at night too.”