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There was an enormous rush, something like a tornado
hitting a building. I could feel the earth trembling,
amid the thunderous crash from somewhere not far away
from our adjacent lodge. I had a premonition that
something terrible had occurred. Seized with fear, I
dashed out of my lodge. The other occupants were rushing
out too, all seemed to be in a daze. We were dumbfounded
by what we saw. There were heaps of soil, rocks and
trees covering a stretch of the mountain slopes where a
number of lodges had been before. Our lodge was a mere
30 meters way from the landslide. It was a close shave
for us. Before the rescuers came, we rushed to the
ill-fated site and frantically dug in the rubble in the
hope of reaching the survivors. Residents from other
nearby lodges joined us. However, it was a futile
effort. when the rescuers came, they warned us to stay
away as the site was dangerously unstable with more
landslides feared. They then launched an immediate
full-scale search for those buried under the rubble.
Like the others, I had come to this resort of Thredbo in
Australia for a holiday. The tiny village is a popular
ski resort for the locals as well as foreign tourists.
It is situated in the Snowy mountains some 400
kilometers south of Sydney. I had a hectic day of skiing
with my friends. We were resting in our lodge before the
incident happened. I learnt that this was the first time
a landslide had ever occurred here. By now it was well
past midnight and the temperature had dipped below
freezing point. Rescue workers used arc lights to search
for survivors. "There are no signs of life at all, but
there is still hope," remarked a rescuer. "There were
cries that we could hear in the beginning, but after
some time there was silence. Initially we could also
hear anti-theft alarms from cars beneath the rubble."
The rescue workers formed a human chain and went through
the twisted ruins of the lodges. However, they were
unable to use earth-moving equipment for fear of more
landslides. The search and rescue work was intensified
the next morning. Unofficial reports claimed that as
many as 20 people had been buried in the landslide. The
work of picking through rubble had been fraught with
danger and hazards such as leaking fuel from crushed
cars. It was estimated that the rubble was about 20
meters deep. Search crews had to shove up the site as
they worked to prevent a further slide. After 15 hours
of work, they had found only two bodies. Someone
reported sighting the foot of a third body poking
through the debris. It turned out to be a bag of
potatoes. By the evening of the second day, frustrations
began to show on the faces of the rescuers.
Police said the chance of freeing the remaining victims
from the tonnes of collapsed concrete, twisted metal,
dirt and splintered trees was almost nil. By now friends
and family of the victims had gathered at Thredbo to
pray for a miracle. "We do not want to give them a false
hope," said a rescue spokesman. "I am certain that they
understand the impossible task that is facing us. Our
work is also hampered by the fact that many of the
victims are trapped under a massive weight of concrete
and the instability of the slope, which has forced
rescue workers to painstakingly cut the slabs into
pieces before removal. Even optic fiber cameras and
thermal imaging equipment used in the search operations
have failed to show signs of life in the wreckage. We
are no longer putting a time limit on the rescue
effort."
It is believed that seepage from a mountain spring might
have caused the earth to give way, sending tonnes of
dirt, rocks and trees crashing into the lodges. Police
informed that those who were buried in the rubble
included a middle-aged couple from California, a New
Zealand tourist and 17 Australians. Meanwhile, messages
of sympathy poured in from around the world to the
small, close-knit community of the Alpine village of
Thredbo. |
