Bengaluru: The air was thick with grief and the unmistakable smell of decay at the site of the Babusapalya building collapse on Friday, where rescue teams uncovered the body of Elumalai, a contractor, marking the ninth death in the tragedy. Elumalai’s body, swollen and covered in mud, was recovered around 10:45 AM on Friday.
During this time only officials, his family, a few locals, and passersby were present at the accident site. Meanwhile, the Fire Department, Karnataka State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and police teams worked cautiously, needing over half an hour to remove his body, which was then taken to Boring Hospital.
Haven’t slept in 2 days: Buldozer operator at accident site
For Ram Mani, a 26-year-old bulldozer operator from Uttar Pradesh, the experience of the rescue effort has been deeply haunting. “I haven’t slept in two days. I’ve been operating bulldozers for five or six years, but I’ve never been this terrified,” Deccan Herald quoted him saying. Mani’s unease echoes the intensity of the operation, which briefly paused when the overpowering odor of decomposition signaled the discovery of Elumalai’s body.
“The smell was overwhelming. We stopped immediately to trace it, and that’s when we found him,” recalled a police official present at the scene, as per the same Deccan Herald report. According to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), debris removal should be completed within a week, with plans underway to dispose of the rubble at a government site near Hennur Bande.
Neighbours demand compensation
As the aftermath unfolds, neighbours are also grappling with the destruction left behind. Cynthia Lobo, a 73-year-old resident of Banaswadi, expressed her anguish and frustration over the collapse’s impact on their adjoining property. She and her husband, 85, were devastated to find the foundation of their three-year-old building project irreparably damaged.
Lobo shared that they had previously asked the site owner to relocate temporary worker sheds from their land, and now calls on the government to compensate them for the loss of their property’s foundation.
