Hyderabad, May 06: More than 48 hours after three rag-pickers were buried under heaps of garbage in the Jawaharnagar dump yard, rescue workers could manage to retrieve one body. The halfburnt body was identified to be that of Vasu.
Rescue workers excavating the heaps of garbage with the help of heavy machines found the body around 6 p.m., minutes before they called off the operations for the day. “The upper part of the body was almost burnt while from waist to legs it was intact. With the help of a thread tied around the waist and trousers, the body was identified to be that of 15-year Vasu by his relatives,” Alwal police subinspector Ram Reddy said.
Police said the three rag-pickers were not standing at the same place when the avalanche of garbage fell on them. The other two, Raheem and Khaja, were at one place while Vasu was some distance away from them.
Police and municipal officials said the operations would resume on Thursday.
GHMC officials said six excavators were pressed into service for the search operation. “Today we retrieved a body. The search will begin again tomorrow morning for the remaining persons,” GHMC additional commissioner (Health & Sanitation) S Aleem Basha told Expresso.
The three stealthily entered the dump yard to pick scrap from the garbage. But to their ill-fate, a rubbish heap slid from the hill and fell on them.
The woman who went missing a week ago under similar circumstances is also yet to be traced.
The officials and the families of the remaining victims lost hope of finding them alive after seeing the condition of Vasu’s body.
–Agencies