Kolkata: For nearly five agonising hours, 22-year-old Ramprasad Chowdhury lay trapped under tonnes of concrete and steel, fearing each moment could be his last.A massive reinforced concrete beam fell on his right leg and crushed it. But rescuers and doctors said the same beam may also have saved his life by stopping an even larger concrete pillar from crashing down directly on him.Chowdhury, a construction worker from Agradip in East Burdwan, was among the labourers pouring concrete on the top floor of the under-construction warehouse in Taratala when the structure collapsed on Wednesday. Casting work on the second and third floors was already completed, and the team was working on the first floor when the building gave way.“I don’t know how I survived,” Chowdhury told TOI from bed Y-17 on the second floor of the Trauma Care Building at SSKM hospital on Saturday, hours before his discharge. His right leg, wrapped in heavy bandages after multiple fractures, lay motionless on the bed.“My right foot has suffered severe fractures and I don’t know when I will be able to walk again,” he said. “My future is uncertain. I don’t know when I can return to work. But I need to work. I have a family to support.”As rescue teams struggled through unstable debris and dangerously balanced slabs, Chowdhury remained pinned beneath the fallen beam, unable to move. Rescuers kept speaking to him every few minutes, assuring him that help was coming, while they carefully cut through layers of concrete. After nearly five hours, he was pulled out alive.Doctors said he suffered severe fractures but had no life-threatening internal injuries — an outcome they described as remarkable, given the scale of the collapse, which killed 16 workers.For Chowdhury, however, survival has brought uncertainty. A daily wage labourer, he now faces months of treatment and rehabilitation, with no assurance of when he will be able to earn again. “My mother is at home. I also have two elder sisters. I am thankful to God for saving me,” he said. “Now I only pray for a speedy recovery so that I can get back to work as soon as possible.”
