A Mother’s Anguish: ‘Please Save My Son’

Using a crowbar and her bare hands, Sunitibehn Mehta clawed at rubble in a frantic search for her 8-year-old son, Manu, trapped after their six-story building collapsed in the quake that rocked the Indian subcontinent Friday.

“He is still alive. I know it. Somebody please save my son,” she pleaded with onlookers, her voice drowned in the din of roaring power generators providing electricity for rescue operations after authorities shut off power supplies to avoid short circuits and fires.

Her husband, Veerji, was not so optimistic.

“There have been no noises heard from the rubble for over three hours now. I have lost hope,” he said in a whisper.

Nearly 15 hours after a massive earthquake struck India, hundreds of people remained trapped in the debris of scores of buildings that collapsed in Ahmadabad, Gujarat state’s commercial capital.

Thousands of people were killed and injured in the magnitude 7.9 temblor that was felt from Pakistan to Nepal and Bangladesh.

The Mehtas described how the earth rumbled beneath their feet as they were getting ready to take part in neighborhood celebrations for Republic Day, India’s annual celebration of its constitution.

Mehta and his wife managed to flee the six-story building in the heart of Ahmadabad, but their son was trapped when a staircase collapsed.

Rescuers pulled four injured people and at least 13 bodies from the rubble. At least 15 people, including Manu, remained buried.

The quake struck around breakfast time, and all day long the volunteers, mostly young men from the neighborhood, removed bricks and masonry.

Every time a person was pulled out alive, a cheer went up.

A hush descended when volunteers pulled out a body.

“We have got no help from police or local authorities. We have done everything ourselves,” said Maheshbhai Patel, a shop owner helping with the rescue efforts.

Throughout the sprawling city of 5 million, residents spread blankets to spend the night outside in temperatures hovering in the 40s, too afraid to go back into the damaged buildings.