Group of seven headed on a trip saved by minutes

Shejad Ansari,28, a garment shop owner and six others had planned a trip for Khandala on Sunday morning. Minutes before the building came crashing down, the group

Shejad Ansari,28, a garment shop owner and six others had planned a trip for Khandala on Sunday morning. Minutes before the building came crashing down, the group was standing below it, waiting for the food they had ordered for the trip.

HT Image

The food arrived and the group moved a few metres away when Ansari got a call from his wife. “She was stammering. She called me home and told me about the building collapse. My family was under the building. I climbed in, looked for them and pulled them all out. Fortunately, we’re all safe n o w. ” Ansari said the group was extremely fortunate to have just left the building. “I t was just a matter of five minutes otherwise, there could have been more deaths. As we escaped, the seven of us were able to help with the rescue efforts and pull our families and neighbours out of the debris too,” he said.