Ludhiana: Three firefighters, trapped under rubble after a plastic factory collapsed after catching fire, could not be traced as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) winded up the rescue operations today.   The NDRF and SDRF teams took seven days to complete the operation, officials said.   

The NDRF team believes that the firemen, stuck in the rubble since Monday, either got so mutilated that even the crushed parts could not be recovered or were burnt to ashes in the fire. Out of thirteen people whose bodies were recovered, six belonged to Ludhiana fire department.   Three persons - Sukhdev Singh, Manohar Lal and Manpreet Singh remain untraced and were also firefighters.   

"No human who has been trapped under the debris for several days can survive in this temperature and dense smoke," said NDRF Inspector Ram Lal Haran.   He said that the chemicals stored in the factory were so huge that it was an uphill task to control the fire which raged for a few days. A total of 145 men, part of three rescue teams, worked round the clock for days to complete the operation.   

Deputy Commissioner Pardeep Aggarwal, who visited the spot, assured the members of three untraced firemen that they would manually check a large chunk of the debris later.