Bangalore, February 25: Along with destruction of lives, tragedies also throw up unlikely heroes and survivors. The fire at Carlton Towers on Tuesday was no different with remarkable stories of people putting their lives on the line selflessly and braving all odds to live to tell their tales.
Call it a brush of fortune, resilience, or what you will, but the survival story of 20-year-old Mojmul Hussain B, who jumped off the tower is miraculous. Incredibly, it was Hussain’s first day at work at Carlton Towers, having worked at nearby Leela Palace earlier as a security guard. Hussain, a native of Assam and a security guard at G D A Software, and Sunil Iyer, a techie at the same firm located in Carlton, took the plunge around the same time. But Sunil was not as fortuitous and succumbed to the fall.
Although Hussain, now recuperating at a city hospital, shows signs of trauma, he escaped with some bruises. Recounting the Tuesday horror, Hussain said he and his colleague had no option but to jump off the building. “Smoke engulfed the entire floor where visibility was poor. We waited for about half-an-hour for the smoke to escape, but after a point we had no clue what was happening. Breathing had become an effort, so our only option was to jump,” he said.
Hussain, who was unaware of Sunil’s death, said he fell into a cloth below with minor injuries to his back. Recuperating in the ward right beside Hussain’s was firefighter K T Prakash who, along with his team of firefighters, rescued in excess of 50 people trapped in the tower’s seventh floor. Prakash said he sustained injuries to his leg while carrying an unconscious lady out of the building.
“We flushed out the whole of the seventh floor and went back to make sure that nobody was left behind. Two ladies had passed out in a corner and it was while carrying one of them that I stumbled on the stairs,” he said.
Chief Fire Officer R Ramesh, who headed the team, fireman Guruswamy and Sub-inspector Ashwath Gowda too were injured in the fire. While Ramesh, who suffered superficial wounds, was discharged on Tuesday, Guruswamy and Gowda were operated upon on Wednesday for injuries in their hand and leg, respectively.
Unlikely hero
Another unlikely hero, who helped rescue people was Shankar, an office boy at Micro World computers in Jayanagar. He was visiting Carlton Towers for a delivery when the fire broke out and immediately he pitched in to help. “People were passing out and were blinded by the smoke in their eyes. It was necessary for them to be helped downstairs,” he said.
Shankar managed to help in rescuing five people from the fourth floor before he too got injured. “I was on my way back up when I slipped on the stairs and tumbled down,” he said. Shankar, who sustained injuries to his legs is also currently recuperating.
-Agencies