Manipur landslide: Survivor, who was buried underneath moist earth and exhumed alive, recounts horror

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: It will need to have been 1.30 am on June 30 when the heavens fell and unleashed hell on Ramen Phukan.

He was sleeping at one second after which, discovered himself buried underneath tonnes of moist earth and rocks. He is among the 18 survivors of the devastating landslide in Manipur’s Noney district.

The survivors embody 5 from Assam. They had been delivered to Guwahati in a flight on Monday. Ramen, a mason, recounted the horror.

“I almost got buried. I got trapped between two rocks – one above and another behind. I could somehow stick my right hand out of the debris. I thought I would die and started praying to God. And then by using full force, I somehow managed to partially lift my body. It was dark and raining,” Ramen recalled.

He mentioned on listening to him yelling for all times, his pal Gopal Phukan arrived, carrying a stump-like object. Ramen held onto it as he was being lifted. Eventually, he got here out of the particles and went to a safer place close to a plantain tree.

“I could hear some voices coming from the side of the river (Ijai). I couldn’t see the persons but they were possibly stuck in the river. I shouted at them saying if you want to stay alive, come to me. My brother Maniram and nephew Maheshwar soon arrived,” Ramen mentioned.

As moments handed by, he mentioned the voices on the river fell silent. The particles had blocked the river and the extent of water was quick rising, he mentioned.

“Gopal Phukan saved my life but unfortunately, he is among the dead,” Ramen, who fractured his left hand, mentioned sobbing.

He mentioned he was caught there for the subsequent three to 4 hours till being rescued by the villagers at daybreak.

“They put me into a sack and carried me uphill. I will remain thankful to them for the rest of my life,” Ramen mentioned.

Prahlad Basumatary, one other survivor, mentioned the landslide had flung him an extended distance down.

“Twenty-three of us, including a supervisor, were in the room. We went to bed after eating dinner and watching movies etc,” Prahlad mentioned.

He mentioned he sustained accidents in a single leg and was rescued by the villagers. Assam minister Pijush Hazarika had introduced the survivors to Guwahati.

“Twenty-six people from Assam were there. Five survived, the bodies of nine were recovered and 12 are missing. The missing persons include a railway engineer,” Hazarika informed journalists.

He mentioned the 5 survivors had been Ramen Phukan, Maniram Phukan, Maheshwar Phukan, Jon Basumatary and Prahlad Basumatary. Of the 26 folks from Assam, 21 are from Morigaon district.

Dipankar Bordoloi, who’s the chief of Khustoli Khuragusaibari village in Morigaon, mentioned 18 of the individuals are from his village whereas three are from an adjoining village.

“Most people in our areas are farmers. After sowing paddy, a lot of them go to different places to eke out a living,” Bordoloi mentioned.

Till Monday, the our bodies of 45 victims, together with Territorial Army personnel, had been retrieved. The personnel had been deployed there for the safety of under-construction railway line from Jiribam to Imphal.

The Manipur authorities introduced ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh every for the useless and Rs 50,000 every for the injured.