'They were not in condition to speak...just breathing'

Hands, sniffer dogs and technology used in rescue operation

New Delhi: With hands, torches, sniffer dogs and technology the rescuers conducted search operation after the blast in West Delhi's Moti Nagar factory on Thursday. According to residents, the scene was horrific inside the destroyed building, injured were lying on a pool of blood and broken bones. "When the victims were taken out, they were not in the condition to speak and were just breathing," said Ashok Kumar Jaiswal, Assistant Divisional Officer who led the team of more than twenty-five personnel from Delhi Fire Services (DFS) in the rescue operation. He further stated that before using any equipment through hands search was conducted under rubble and debris.

The fire officer further stated that combustible materials like spray paint found inside the floor. "In 15-20 minutes we rescued more than seven persons but a thorough search conducted for more than two hours," said Jaiswal adding that torches used for the search. For the fire department, it was tough to enter the residential area, where the factory was running. "We left our fire tenders on the corner of the street and started walking to the spot," said the fire department officer.

The NDRF used sniffer dogs and through wall life detector which can detect life and activities deep into rubble. Sniffer dogs also used by the team. Meanwhile, the residents claimed that after the blast for 15 minutes there was only dust. "We entered the factory and found bodies lying. Some of them lying with broken legs and some with head and chest injuries" said Palvinder Singh. The residents started to take out the trapped victims from the rubble. Another resident Pawan claimed that after the incident, power was cut and through mobile torches search started. Sanmeet Singh got an injury in his foot while carrying woman victim.

Among the dead: Man about to get married, kid who came to meet dad

New Delhi: "I was coming down the stairs when there was a blast and wall fell on me," said Ashok, the victim in the case who was receiving treatment in West Delhi's hospital. Meanwhile, one of the victim was about to get married in May, but in the blast lost his life.

Speaking to Millennium Post, victim Ashok stated that few minutes before the incident, he was going down the stairs to bring gas cylinder when the incident happened. "In the ground floor of the building machines were running and in the first-floor parts of the fan were painted with the help of spray," said Ashok.

The oven was burning at the time of the incident. The pressure of the gas was low when he went down to get another cylinder. "Half an hour before the incident a kid came to the factory who later became a blast victim," said Ashok. DCP (West) Monika Bharadwaj stated that the kid came with mother to meet his father. "From last ten days, workers were doing overtime as manufacturing work had increased in the factory," said the victim who was working there for several years.

One of the deceased Ajay had joined the factory on New Year. His father, Budh Bahadur, was in DDU hospital mortuary carrying an Aadhaar Card of his son. "When he was kid he started working to help family and recently he had joined the factory and was doing overtime duty," said the father.

A pal of gloom descends in the house of another deceased Ajay, according to his brother Rohit, his brother was engaged on December 18 last year, and was supposed to get married in May this year. "I was not able to see my brother face as in the morning he left for work and later in the afternoon when I had gone to give him his lunch, the owner of the factory was on the ground who received his tiffin and said that he will hand over the tiffin to Ajay," said Rohit.