'We couldn't break down'

Updated on: 22 November,2009 10:05 AM IST |
Alisha Coelho and Mahanand Gupta |

Topsline team that pulled out dead bodies remembers the horror of 26/11 and finding Karambir Kang's family

Topsline team that pulled out dead bodies remembers the horror of 26/11 and finding Karambir Kang's family

There are several moments from the event of last year's 26/11 attack that the team from Topsline emergency response service would like to forget.

And there are other shocking recollections recounted by the team that ferried the dead out of ground zero those days. Baburao Wankhade, who led the team that recovered the body of slain NSG commando Sandeep Unnikrishnan, remembers bullets flying over their heads as they attempted to recover the hero's body. "The body was lying next to room 27; we couldn't risk moving any closer and a fierce exchange of fire was taking place between the terrorists and the commandos. We finally had to order for a rope to be brought up and lassoed him in," he said, adding that it took the combined strength of three men to haul the body in.

But the stories are not all grim. Operations in charge at the Trident Hotel D A Siddique recalls saving a lady from the fourth floor of the besieged hotel. "She was barely alive and was lying among ten corpses. There was heavy firing on the fifth floor but we managed to bring her out and rush her to Bombay Hospital. She had several injuries and only opened her eyes on day four. The first words out of her mouth were that she wanted to see the doctor who saved her. It was a real victory for us that she survived," he said.

A year on, the Topsline handlers are the picture of calm. "We couldn't break down. Who would have saved the hostages?" asks Singh. "Life has to go on."

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