MANGALORE: Sheer presence of mind of 12-year-old Ashwitha helped save at least five persons in the wall collapse tragedy.
Ashwitha, a class VI student of Little Flower School, Bajpe, was sleeping along with her grandmother Sundari, who died in the mishap, in the kitchen. The first one to wake up Ashwitha alerted people residing in other dwellings. Hearing her calls for help six youths rushed to the spot and started rescue operation. They managed to save Leela, Asha, Shekar, Ashwin and Ashwath.
“I woke up early because of the heavy rain. I started running screaming for help in front of other dwellings immediately after the wall collapsed. Following this, many rushed to spot and started clearing debris,” she recalled.
Sharath, Shekar’s son, said that he along with other youths Vinaya, Vishwanath, Krishna, Chethan and Sandeep entered the damaged house. “We could save only five people. We could not help others as they were trapped inside the debris and were injured too,” Sharath said.
