Cops cordon off area l Residents ordered to vacate flats
TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
CANACONA: Rescue operations were halted and personnel and machinery were withdrawn from the collapsed building site at Chaudi, Canacona after a retaining wall gave way and a block of the adjoining building tilted on Monday at about 1 pm.
According to official sources, the recovery of one more body at about 12 midnight has taken the total of fatalities to 18 so far, even as authorities fear that more bodies were buried under the rubble.
While the National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) team was carrying out operations without the use of heavy machinery, the side retaining wall of about 10-12 metres in height suddenly gave away and the adjoining building tilted to its side. This led to a panic withdrawal of all the NDRF personnel, who fled from the site and alerted others to vacate the area.
As the personnel began to vacate the area, a group leader of NDRF directed the
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staff to move out the machinery from the site to prevent further damage to the block.
A huge gap could be noticed at the main building of the last block and no one was permitted to go beyond certain limits.
Meanwhile, in a swift direction, residents of about six residences towards the southern end of the block were ordered to vacate their homes.
Police cordoned off the area and authorities enforced a ban on any human activity or presence within a 100-metre radius of the site. Since 1.15 pm, a large contingent of policemen was mobilized and barricades were erected on all sides to keep the rushing public at a safe distance.
According to South Goa Collector Venancio Furtado, the rescue operations have been stalled for time being and it will be resumed only after receiving more sophisticated rescue team.
Canacona Mamlatdar Ravishekhar Nipannikar said a team from Mumbai has already been requisitioned at about 2.30 pm. “The team should be able to join the rescue team and operations will begin within 24 hours,” he said.
Meanwhile, sources informed that one body was sighted through the search camera of NDRF and plans were underway to retrieve the body when the sudden jerk of adjacent building forced the personnel to abandon their efforts.
Sources close to the NDRF team informed that usage of sniffer dogs and life-detecting equipments have so far not yet revealed the presence of any life under the debris.
The only civilian, Prabhat Naik Amonkar, who was assisting rescue teams right from beginning to retrieve bodies from the debris, informed that more bodies are suspected to be lying below the rubble.
“We suspect that there could be many bodies located on the building’s staircase at the lower end,” Prabhat told Herald.
At a late night meeting in Panjim, it was decided to await the arrival of experts before the demolition of one block of Ruby Residency which is posing a threat to recovery operations. The meeting of government officials from other departments chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar decided to contact a mining company for explosives in case it was decided to demolish the building using explosives.
A report on the strength of the concrete is expected Tuesday from the Goa College of Engineering.
