From Morning to Night, till the last body was recovered, they worked…

His name is Sharath Suvarna, owner of Sri Durga Prasad Earthmovers, Bajpe. He has been in this business for the past 7 to 8 years. He is the Vice president of Narayana Guru Seva Sangh which recently distributed note books to poor students as well.

He gets a call on Saturday, May 22, at around 7. 30 am from the Police Station. The call says a Dubai-Mangalore plane has crashed and we need your ‘Hitachi’ to rescue bodies. It’s urgent. He calls his JCB operator Raju and Tipper Lorry driver Guruvappa. The required equipments were within the radius of 5 km near Karmbar. Within no time both rush to the spot and start working. They make their way down at the crash site and move the gutted plane to find the bodies. From dawn to dusk and beyond, until till the last body is recovered, they work.

There was no road to reach the crashed plane. Besides, just one ambulance was present at the spot when they reached there.

‘When I heard the news I sent it as early as possible just expecting if there is any possibility to save lives. We have 4 JCBs and all were busy on respective sites working. We left that work and asked them to postpone just for this. This incident shouldn’t have happened’, Sharath laments.

I had lent help to police earlier and so they knew me. They called me immediately for help and I did the needful, he adds.

Devendrappa from Koppala Taluk Indaragi, popularly known as Raju in Mangalore got a call from Sharath, the owner at about 7.30 around 8, the team of Raju, Guruvappa and Hemanth had reached the spot. Realizing the intensity of the incident he acted quickly and made a road with the JCB. It was slippery due to rain. He made the road again making it possible for people and other rescue operating parties to take the bodies to the ambulance. Further he even helped in moving the plane to get the charred bodies. It was not an easy task but he was on duty till last body was retrieved, all for the sake of humanity.

He took rest the next day because of the trauma he faced at the spot. Hemanth was the conductor of the JCB who was making sure the people around are not harmed and was looking after the machine safety.

Raju is living in Mangalore from the past 12 years. He started his career in Mangalore as a hair dresser. He later found this job much suitable for him and learnt the operating of JCB. He has been operating the Iron Giant for 5 years now. He lives in Pachchanady.