Divers work year-round in the most polluted parts of the river without any safety equipment or insurance cover
Divers work year-round in the most polluted parts of the river without any safety equipment or insurance cover
“A few years back, a five-year-old girl drowned in the Yamuna and there was little chance of her survival. I somehow managed to save him, gave him CPR and he started breathing again”, recalled rescue diver Shahzad Ali. The 48-year-old who has been actively working in Yamuna river in Delhi for over a decade. The diver said, he has saved more than 300 lives so far.
sharing your feelings about the job Hindu“There is a joy in rescuing people and reuniting them with their loved ones,” Mr Ali said.
From drowning scares to skin infections, rescue divers in the Yamuna – one of the world’s most polluted rivers – fight a daily battle with the death.
rescue club
Mr Ali is part of a 20-member team, known as the ‘Rescue Boat Club’ (RBC), which guards over half a dozen places marked “dangerous” along the 22-km stretch of Yamuna in Delhi. The club is the only one of its kind that takes out bodies of victims of accident, suicide or murder.
Established in 1965, RBC is run by the Government of Delhi and comes under the jurisdiction of District Magistrate (East).
“I manage to save at least 10 lives every month. I do it more as a social service than a job. My mission is to save everyone,” he said. Ali and his fellow divers are now in tough times. As the number of calls increases between March and September. When the Yamuna is in spate during the monsoon, divers remain on high alert, attending several calls in a day. They keep an eye on the river. Night camps were also set up on the beach.
RBC receives over 200 emergency calls every year. Out of 213 calls received in 2021, the team rescued 31 people alive and recovered 76 bodies from drains, canals and drains of the city.
Boat club in-charge Harish Kumar said his team of divers has achieved a high success rate in rescuing people and extricating bodies as the members remain alert throughout the day and rush to the spot whenever an accident occurs.
“In addition to answering calls, they [divers] They also keep a close watch and if they see any person accidentally drowning or attempting suicide, divers rush to rescue them,” Mr. Kumar said.
RBC undertook one of its toughest operations in 2017 when the Ghazipur landfill collapsed. Several people were washed away in a nearby canal and two died. Mr Kumar said that despite the entire team of divers being pressed into service, it took them several hours to retrieve the bodies from the garbage dump.
risk involved
Mr Ali said the job of a rescue diver comes with its share of risks. “Yamuna is considered one of the most polluted rivers; All kinds of chemicals and industrial wastes float on its surface,” he said.
One of his four sons is following in his footsteps and rescues the victims at Yamuna’s Wazirabad barrage. “I taught him (son) how to swim and find bodies of people who are drowning. Like me, he too has a passion for saving lives. I hope my other sons will also carry on this legacy,” Mr. Ali said.
Another diver, 47-year-old Naushad Ali, shared an additional risk that divers themselves faced during rescue operations – once they dive to a depth of more than 20 meters in the river, their ears start bleeding. Is.
“If a person’s body is lying really deep in the water, it becomes difficult for us to hold our breath for a long time and we make several trips to the surface to bring them up,” Mr. Naushad said.
lack of safety equipment
“Every day is a game of life and death for us. We don’t have any safety equipment to assist us or insurance cover. For us only the victim matters”, Mr. Ali said.
A senior government official in the District Magistrate (East) office said safety equipment would be provided to the divers soon and plans are on to provide insurance policies to each of them.
“We appreciate their work and the number of lives they have saved. In about two months, arrangements for protective kits like gloves and other protective equipment will be made for them,” the official said. increased in the coming months.
facing public outcry
Mr Kumar pointed out that during major rescue operations, divers often fall prey to public anger, which hinders their work. He said, “We always try our best to save lives and when we are searching for a dead body, the victim’s kin sometimes lose their cool and we don’t want to find that person quickly. attack.”
In addition, as the bodies of victims decompose, it becomes difficult for divers to retrieve them quickly. “At times, limbs or hands fall off due to decomposition of the body. In that state it takes hours to retrieve the body,” Mr. Naushad said. However, seeing a corpse does not deter or frighten divers from doing their job.
no relief
Divers are on duty even during festivals, when there is a spike in emergency calls. Raees Ahmed, 45, a rescue diver with RBC, said, “Mostly every year during Holi, we get at least five calls of drowning as people get drunk on the banks of the river.”
On occasions like Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja and Chhath festival, people break barricades and try to go deep inside the river. There have been many deaths due to negligent violation of restrictions by the devotees.
According to Mr Ahmed, the biggest challenge is to find bodies in outer Delhi’s Bawana canal as it is 10 feet deep and has a strong current. He said it takes two-three days to retrieve the bodies from there.
The RBC divers are from Jagatpur village in Wazirabad, where they grew up swimming in the Yamuna and rushed to rescue people if they saw anyone drowning. Today saving people has become the means of their livelihood.
During the North-East Delhi riots, all 20 divers were deployed to retrieve the bodies of the victims of violence from the Chandbagh drain. It took them several hours to find the bodies, during which the divers also faced stone pelting by the mob.