Three of family narrowly escape house collapse in Jammu

Jammu, Sep 3 (PTI) A ventilator of a house turned out to be a lifeline for three members of a family who were stuck in a room after the house collapsed due to incessant rains here on Wednesday.

With the help of police, local leaders and neighbours, the trapped inmates were pulled out through the ventilator amid intense rains in Pacca Danga area in the heart of the city, officials said.

The old house in the densely populated Kali Jhani locality collapsed around 7.15 am, trapping an elderly woman, her son and grandson, the officials said.

They said the anxious neighbours responded to the situation and immediately informed police and the local MLA and started a rescue operation.

The neighbours heaved a sigh of relief when the inmates made contact and informed them that they were holed up inside a room.

The police party and local BJP MLA Yudhvir Sethi also reached the spot and devised a plan to break open the wall of a neighbour’s house to reach them.

However, Raman, one of the trapped persons, suggested that they can get out through the ventilator of their room which is opening on the slab of their neighbour's single-room structure.

The police along with the MLA and some locals pulled all the three from the ventilator and completed the rescue operation.

“We are thankful to everyone for their efforts to help us. We have already submitted an application to the office of deputy commissioner seeking permission to carry out urgent repairs,” Raman said.

Sethi expressed happiness over the safe rescue of the three members and said clearing debris would have taken at least four days as no machine could be brought here due to narrow lanes.

He asked the deputy commissioner to dismantle the old and unsafe houses in the area which pose a threat to locals after undertaking a safety check.

In another incident, an abandoned building collapsed at Kucha Nahar Singh street in Panjtirthi area of the old city.

There were no casualties in the incident, the officials said. PTI AB TAS SKL KVK KVK