‘I cried for help, no one heard’

Trapped under the debris, Reshma Begum had cried for help for 16 days. But no one had come to her rescue.

She was almost losing hope when the unbelieveable happened on the 17th day – her feeble shout was answered.

The 19-year-old Dinajpur girl was rescued at around 4:30pm on Friday and rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) at Savar for treatment.

Rescuers said she did not sustain any major injuries.

Reshma, however, complained of breathing problems to doctors attending to her.

While narrating her heroic tale of survival to reporters at the ICU, she said, “I crawled my way through a narrow passage to a safe spot after removing some debris with a stick….. I had shouted for help, but no one had heard me.”

According to her, she had survived the first two weeks by eating leftover foods. But she ran out of stock two days backs and since then was starving.

Doctors said she was out of danger.

After the building near the Savar Bus Stand collapsed, the Army, Fire Service, Red Crescent, members of different law-enforcing agencies, volunteers and locals had started the rescue efforts to save as many lives possible.

After giving up hope of finding anyone alive under the wreckage, the rescuers had pressed heavy machinery in service clear the debris away on Apr 28.

But the next day, they found one ‘Shahina’ alive under the debris. But she could not be rescued as she died in a fire that had broken out at the wreckage site only a few hours after she was spotted.

The nine-storey commercial block, Rana Plaza, came crushing down on Apr 24 leaving over a thousand people, mostly garment workers, dead so far.

Source: Bd news24