by Faiqa Masoodi
SRINAGAR: Bashir Ahmad, who was rescued by police, SDRF, and civilian volunteers from a well in a Kunzar village after more than eight hours, is alive. However, he is being treated for multiple bone fractures and Rhabdomyolysis.
“He has multiple fractures – both of his collar bones are broken and he has an injury in the coccyx,” one senior doctor said. The coccyx is the tailbone. “However, the serious issue the treating doctors are trying to manage is the Rhabdomyolysis”.
Rhabdomyolysis, though not new to Kashmir, is a medical condition in which the muscles of a person break down and disintegrate. It leads to muscle death. As it happens, the toxic components of the muscle fibres enter the blood circulation system and choke the kidneys. In serious cases, this leads to acute renal failure.
“The patient is right now on oxygen. He is alive and conscious. We have given some medicine and if it does not make a positive impact, dialysis may have to be done,” the senior doctor said.
Bashir’s rescue was perhaps the first major operation by SDRF and Jammu and Kashmir Police that was webcast live and was watched by millions of people across the globe, especially in Kashmir. He slipped into the 35-ft deep well and was covered by tons of stones that were forming the ring of the well. The rescuers had to manually get the stones out and rescue him after more than eight hours of the operation. Tens of thousands of people had descended upon the Barzulkla hamlet in Kunzar belt to watch the rescue and contribute, if anything the rescuers required.
Bashir was immediately rushed to the local hospital and later shifted to the SKIMS Hospital in Srinagar where he is being taken care of by the best doctors in town.
A professional labourer who specialises in managing the dug wells is the father of six children, most of whom are minors. His wife fell unconscious within moments after Bashir slipped into the well and was managed by the doctors in an ambulance parked a stone’s throw from the well where the rescue was going on.
In Kashmir, the incidents of people dying in wells are a perennial happening. Off late, as the water table goes down and the discharge in water bodies is hugely compromised, people opt for dug wells and bore wells to manage their requirements. These wells require upkeep and repairs, during which such incidents take place. Bashir’s rescue was one of the rare incidents of its kind in which he was recovered alive after remaining under tons of stones and mud for more than eight hours.
