LAHORE: The 131-hour long joint rescue and search operation at the Rajput Poly-Plant at Sundar Industrial Estate concluded in the wee hours on Tuesday.

The authorities confirmed that 45 people, mostly workers, died in the four-storey building collapse while 103 were evacuated.

The operation was jointly launched by over 2,000 workers, engineers and experts of Army, Rescue 1122, Capital Development Authority, Islamabad, Civil Defence, Bahria Town, Izhar Construction Company and other agencies.

The rescue personnel made an announcement to end operation at 5am on Tuesday in the presence of the Lahore DCO and other senior officers of the respective agencies, an official told Dawn.

He said before making announcement, the rescue teams made last attempt to search the “body” of 15-year-old Zeshan, the son of a labourer, who had on Monday night appealed to the authorities to bring him “either dead or alive from the collapsed structure”.

The official said the teams searched four portions of the building on the request of missing boy’s father Abid, but to no avail.

The rescue experts asked him to search his son somewhere else while he insisted that he himself had dropped Zeshan in the colony area of the building on Wednesday morning, the day when the incident took place.

His son had been missing since then, Abid told them adding that Zeshan was not a regular employee of the factory as he was a daily wager like his many other colleagues.

Punjab Emergency Service Director General Brig Dr Arshad Zia said rescue teams removed 17,200 ton debris from the site.

“At least 720 trained rescuers from 15 districts, 60 emergency vehicles including ambulances, specialised vehicles, fire vehicles, flames cutters, hydraulic/gas cutters, chipping hammers, and other equipment took part in the operation,” he said.

Zia said rescue team cut 81 concrete slabs made with cement and metallic rods.

DCO Mohammad Usman said 37 patients were still under treatment and “all are stable”.

He said the army personnel played a critical role in the rescue operation. Experts from Urban Search and Rescue of General Headquarters (GHQ) had joined the operation.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2015