Jeypore/Borigumma: A joint rescue team comprising Army personnel Thursday recovered the body of Sanjay Das from under a heap of boulders 15 days after a portion of a hill caved in on two workers near Bariput village in Koraput district.
Two JCB operators – Ghanashyam Guru of Deogarh and Sanjay Das of Khuntakata village in Athagarh of Cuttack district – were engaged in excavating boulders for the ongoing Telengiri Irrigation Project near Bariput village when a portion of the hill caved in on them May 31.
Sanjay’s body when recovered was found decomposed. The rescue team detonated two explosions in the presence of Collector K Sudarshan Chakraborty and SP Kanwar Vishal Singh Thursday morning and cleared debris to recover the body at about 4 pm.
Sanjay’s body was found lying under a heap of boulders about 15-mtr distance from that of Ghanashyam. A post-mortem was conducted on the body after which it was handed over to Prakash Barik, the brother-in-law of the deceased.
Meanwhile, Collector K Sudarshan Chakraborty announced financial assistance of Rs 6 lakh for Sanjay’s family as earlier announced for Ghanashyam. The total assistance consists of Rs 5 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and Rs 1 lakh from the District Red Cross Fund.
The rescue team first traced the body of Ghanashyam and the earthmoving equipment four days back under a heap of boulders after detonating seven controlled explosions and clearing the debris.
However, they failed to recover the body which was lying under huge boulders. The administration later called the family members of the two operators and asked them to identify the body.
The family members of Ghanshyam identified the body from a locket on his neck. The rescue team made efforts to recover the body for three days but failed with heavy rain making the task difficult for them.
However, success smiled on the rescue team after they detonated another explosion Tuesday night and cleared the debris to recover the body of Ghanashyam Wednesday.
PNN