The solider mourning for his friends said that it was too late for 13 soldiers who were crushed under the heavy concrete slabs.
A total of fourteen people, including 13 Army personnel, lost their lives and 25 others were injured in a four-storey hotel collapse incident in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district which took place on Sunday. Celebrations were on to mark the promotion of soldiers when tragedy struck for 30 Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) of 4 Assam Regiment. The men went outside the Dagshai cantonment and reached a restaurant for lunch when the incident took place.
They travelled in a special army vehicle to the Sehaj Tandoori Dhaba, a four-storey building on the Kumarhatti-Nahan road, approximately four kilometres from the cantonment, after getting prior permission for travelling. The building housed a restaurant and a hotel. It collapsed on Sunday evening after heavy showers.
One of the surviving soldiers said that there was a huge thud just as he stepped out of the building. "Suddenly there was no building behind me. There was screaming all around. Eight to ten jawans were immediately rescued as neighbours came to help with ladders and other things. Few more who were towards the front side of the building were later taken out with some injuries along with other civilians after rescue teams arrived," he said.
The solider mourning for his friends said that it was too late for 13 soldiers who were crushed under the heavy concrete slabs.
Subedar Raj Kishore, who was the first one to be taken out, was declared dead after being taken to a nearby private hospital. The body of Subedar Balwinder Singh was retrieved around midnight. In the next three hours early Monday morning, rescuers retrieved the bodies of Subedar Vinod, Subedar Ajit Kumar, Subedar Pardeep Chand and Naib Subedar Yogesh. It was only after 8 am when Subedar Vishwer Singh's body was retrieved, the Indian Army stated.
The bodies of six other officers - Subedar Hem Homang, Naib Subedar M. Naubin, Subedar Kumar Chaurahi, Subedar Surjeet Sharma, Subedar Lal Sun and Subedar Rajan Bhadur- were pulled out in quick succession between 12 pm and 1 pm.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said, "It is very unfortunate. Orders have been given to investigate the cause of the collapse. As per information received till now, the building structure was not as per specifications."
Zee Media Newsroom
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