They dug through rubble with bare hands, then scanned hospitals for friends

New Delhi: Amid scenes of sheer panic and heartbreak, the tragedy witnessed locals and students instinctively transforming into courageous first responders.

As the structure came down with a loud crash, young bystanders rushed into the billowing dust before tearing away debris with their bare hands and pulling out bleeding survivors from under the rubble.

This act of bravery soon gave way to a desperate, late-night vigil when anxious and grief-stricken students spent hours scouring hospital trauma centres for missing roommates and friends.

Standing near the rubble with an injured foot, Moosa Anwar, an MBBS graduate from Beijing who is preparing for FMGE, recalled the chaotic moments just after the collapse. “I was studying at an adjacent coaching centre when I felt the tremors. I rushed downstairs and saw the building fall in front of me. I managed to pull out two people,” he said.

Anwar said his slipper was stuck in the rubble. “However, there was no time to lose and I continued barefoot. That’s when I injured my foot after hitting an iron rod and a large chunk of concrete. As a doctor, I felt it was my duty to help the stricken. How can we turn away when so many lives are at stake?” he asked.

Another FMGE aspirant, Abdul Razzaq, stepped out of a library when he heard the crash. His shock soon turned into horror when he realised that his roommate and close friend, Ravi Prakash Verma, was among those trapped under the rubble.

Razzaq instinctively joined the rescue efforts, calling out for survivors while removing the debris even as desperate cries for help could be heard from underneath the collapsed structure. As darkness fell, the frantic search gave way to an equally desperate dash across hospitals. Razzaq and other students spent hours shuttling between emergency wards and trauma centres, trying to account for their friends.

Among those who rushed in to help was Prateek Yadav, a friend of Nalin, a student who lost his life. Prateek said he received a frantic call from a junior informing him that several of their mutual friends were buried under the rubble. “The canteen was very popular. Almost everyone ate there most of the time,” he said. “I was at work when I got the call, but the moment I heard what happened, I rushed to the spot.”

Ravi, a local, said, “Initially, when there were no other rescuers apart from a few police personnel, the only way to help those trapped was to remove as much of the debris as possible with our hands or anything we could find.”

Animesh, a student who also witnessed the collapse, said he first thought it was an earthquake. “I was studying in the library when it started shaking. I took cover under a table, but moments later, the glass panes of our coaching centre shattered. That’s when I ran downstairs,” he said.