One phone call saved life of a man trapped in debris after wall collapse in Lucknow

LUCKNOW Golu’s mobile phone proved to be life-saver when this man, in his late twenties, was trapped in the debris for nearly 35 minutes in the wall collapse incident that claimed nine lives in Lucknow’s Cantonment area, following heavy rain that lashed the state capital in the wee hours of Friday.

It all happened when the wall used by labourers to make their hutments near Gaur Enclave in Lucknow’s Cantonment area collapsed due to the downpour, said police.

After the man’s distress call to the Police Control Room, the cops and the fire brigade team reached the spot in 15 minutes and rescued Golu whose leg was stuck in the debris, said cops.

“Amidst the downpour, the police control room got a distress call at 3.24am seeking immediate help to pull out people who were trapped following the collapse of an under-construction boundary wall in Lucknow Cantonment area on Friday,” said ACP (Cantonment) AK Singh, who was present at the accident site.

He said the message was passed on to the police station and the fire brigade personnel, and in the next 15 minutes, the police force was negotiating with waist-deep water, looking for the trapped people.

“As we reached the spot, our first priority was to locate the person who had made the call. Finally, we managed to locate Golu, who had made the call to the police control room. After pulling him out of the debris, he was sent to Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hospital on Park road,” said Singh.

The fire brigade team had arrived by then and the bodies were pulled out one by one. The rescue operation continued amidst rain, till around 9.30 am, he added.

Narrating the situation in which the police, fire brigade personnel and the SDRF carried out the rescue operation, the ACP said: “The rescue operation was carried out in waist-high water amid continuous rainfall and absolute darkness (without electricity).”