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Author: Anand Soondas
Publication: The Times of India
Date: October 15, 2005
Introduction: Army hero has no BP & is on Respirator
Two days ago, Naik Raghubir Singh created a miracle. He scooped out 15 civilians who most likely would have died, trapped under heavy debris. Today, doctors at the Army Hospital in Srinagar might need another miracle to save this hero's life.
"We are doing our best," said Major Chandrika, the ICU incharge at 92 Base Hospital. Raghubir of the 2 Sikh Regiment has no blood pressure and is being administered artificial respiration.
As rains loosened the already shaken earth on October 12, the mountains caved in and brought down boulders the size of elephants. Men and women, forced out of their shattered homes and living in makeshift tents, were caught unawares as the rocks, shooting down like missiles, trapped them at Bomiyar in Uri.
The army dispatched a message to 2 Sikh Regiment, and Raghubir was one of the seven soldiers rushed in to extricate people from the rubble. The soldiers had just brought out the last of the trapped when a sudden landslide swept away the rescue team. Six of the soldiers died. Raghubir was hit by a huge rock, his head almost broke into two. When another batch of armymen pulled him out and brought him by helicopter to Srinagar, he was barely breathing. Buta Singh, a friend of Raghubir and a fellow soldier of the same regiment, called up the hero's family in Bishna, Jammu, on Thursday afternoon. He just told them Raghubir was hurt.
"We, had no idea what our son had gone through," said the soldier's father, Rewail Singh. Proud and petrified, the old man, a farmer, said his son always wanted to be a soldier "He didn't even wait to complete his studies. He joined the army after his matriculation. Though he was the youngest of my three sons, he was the first one with a job."
Raghubir's brother Hardeep, a police officer at Gandhinagar in Jammu, is too overwhelmed to speak. He said he will wait along with his father until his brother regains consciousness. "He will get through," Hardeep said. "My brother always volunteered for tough jobs, even at home, and came out on top." Then, as he turned to leave, he added suddenly, "He joined the army on December 12, 1994. He will work until he retires." Raghubir's wife of five months was hoping for the same, Hardeep said, as the father-son duo packed their bags for Srinagar on Thursday.
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