SAVAR BUILDING COLLAPSE Reshma describes her ordeal

Reshma, a girl who survived the tragic building collapse and was rescued after being trapped inside the debris for 17 days, talks to the reporters at a military hospital on Savar on Monday.

Three days after her miraculous rescue, Reshma on Monday described the ordeal she suffered for 17 days since the collapse of Rana Plaza in Savar.

In her first formal appearance before the media, the girl said, “I never dreamt that I could come out of the rubble. I always called the Almighty Allah. And Allah has saved me.”

Reshma was rescued on Friday afternoon from under the rubble of the nine-story building that caved in on April 24, trapping an unknown number of people inside.

Making a big hole with light instruments like hand saw, hammer and drilling machine, the rescuers pulled her out around 4:30pm, after an hour’s painstaking operation.

Amid repeated requests by the journalists, the authorities of the Savar Combined Military Hospital (CMH) arranged the media briefing in late afternoon at the hospital, where she has being undergoing treatment since her rescue.

The seamstress, who worked at one of the five garment factories housed in the building, said, “I have seen many people dying around me. But I had never lost my hope.”

Reshma said she went to the factory with other workers in the morning and refused to work after she had heard that the building had damaged partially.

“We didn’t want to work. But our bosses forced us to join the work saying that nothing would happen,” Reshma added.

“Suddenly the building collapsed. I was hit on my head. Everybody was shouting for water. A man was crying for water saying Reshma, please give me some water. I was looking for water. But I could not provide him with water. Then the man died,” said Reshma.

“I ate only four pieces of biscuits and a bottle of water in 17 days. I had nothing more to eat,” she said.

“Now I feel much better. I was lying all the time. My all clothes were torn as I crawled inside the rubble. One day I saw some light and then shouted for help. A rescuer then provided me with a torch light with which I found new clothes and wore those,” Reshma described.

Source: The Daily Star