A tiny finger in the rubble and a father's anguish

A grimy finger sticking out of the rubble of a four-storeyed building here alerts a team to the presence of the body of a three-year old boy who died when a major temblor hit Nepal. Then the effort begins to bring him out.

This IANS correspondent accompanied a highly-trained team of rescuers from Poland to Kathmandu's Bus Park, one of the worst affected areas where several buildings were extensively damaged on Saturday.

A sniffer dog indicated the presence of bodies in the collapsed building.

Rescuer Eren, wearing a bright orange safety gear, a helmet and thick gloves, looks intently at the building where he will lead the way. The building has tilted precariously. He is part of a dozen rescuers led by the Poles and accompanied by the Nepal Army soldiers.

Eren moves in cautiously and then steadily begins to shift out the rubble.

He suddenly spots the finger of a child, a boy whose father is waiting outside impassively.

Eren's team member Rafael is recording the effort on the mobile phone.

Carefully Eren removes more rubble as another colleague drills at a place so that they can bring out the body intact. Work too fast and the body will be torn apart.

After a while, a hand and the edge of a blue T-shirt can be seen. Foul smell begins to emanate.

The stench is overpowering yet Eren doesn't flinch. He isn't even wearing a mask. His sturdy hands continue to remove the rubble.

The torso becomes visible.

Minutes earlier, the boy's father Rajan, 37, told IANS that he was out of home when the quake struck and brought his world crashing down. His wife Amrita and both his sons were crushed by the falling debris.

"The children had not gone to school as it was a Saturday," he recalled, with his eyes turning moist.

The grill maker quickly regains his composure.

"Rajan, Rajan," a soldier calls out to boy's distressed father.

He walks into the dark building to claim the body of his youngest son as it is pulled out -- yet another casualty among the thousands who died that fateful Saturday.

(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.s@ians.in)