BENGALURU: As a portion of the two-storey building collapsed because of an alleged LPG cylinder explosion at Ejipura on Monday morning, little did the rescue teams digging through the debris know that a three-year-old girl on the ground floor of the building would be alive.
The girl, Sanjana, daughter of Shravan (28) and Ashwini (26), had sustained severe burns in the explosion, but was otherwise unscathed, when she was pulled out of the debris by NDRF, SDRF and Fire and Emergency Department personnel. Both her parents, though, died in the accident.
Her survival was nothing but a miracle, as she lived on the ground floor and the entire building, including top two floors, collapsed. By the time she was rescued, three hours had already elapsed.
She survived because of an almirah. Rescue workers said that when the cylinder exploded, Sanjana would have been pushed to a corner and the almirah fell on the wall where Sanjana was lying, making a triangular space for her beneath it. Later, the roof and other walls fell on the almirah.
Deputy Director of Fire and Emergency Services Department H.S. Varadarajan told Deccan Chronicle that the rescue men did not know that the girl was alive till she started crying. As they heard her cries, they started digging in that direction and spotted her hand covered in dust. They pulled her out after clearing the debris.
He said that though there were no injuries on Sanjana’s body, she had suffered severe burns. “It is only because of the considerable space beneath the almirah and the wall that she could breathe,” he said. Sanjana was rushed to the Victoria Hospital, where she is said to be out of danger. She kept asking for her mother, leaving her grandparents and uncles teary eyed. They told the child that her parents had gone out and would return by evening.
Meanwhile, a relative of the deceased family told Deccan Chronicle that Sanjana was excited to see and play with the new baby which her mother Ashwini was to deliver next month. Ashwini was eight-months pregnant. The state government has adopted Sanjana and will bear all her expenses.
