Devi watched dance of death at ground zero

HYDERABAD: Nine-year-old Devi Sree may have managed to cheat death, escaping the tragedy with a severe leg injury, but the images of her best friend Mani Keertana dying in front of her eyes, as the beams collapsed on her at the New Century School, Kukatpally, on Thursday, will haunt her forever.“Right after our karate class, seven of us were playing near the stage. Our teacher was also with us, but she got down from the stage for some work while we were chatting. Suddenly, I heard a cracking sound,” said Devi, the class IV student of the school and a resident of Sheshadri Nagar of Kukatpally.Seeing the beams collapse, she ran out of the area. “Fortunately, I escaped being hit by a piece of debris that fell on my left but as I was running for my life, something fell on my right leg,” she said.“I screamed but couldn’t see a thing as there was dust all around. I felt a jolt of pain and realised my leg was bleeding. Suddenly, I realised that I couldn’t find my best friend, Mani anywhere. I felt helpless.” she said, while she was being treated at Anupama hospital at Vivekananda Nagar in Kukatpally.Devi was rescued by two senior students and teachers and carried to an ambulance waiting nearby. “Mani was lying right next to me, when we were being shifted to the hospital. Her eyes were closed and she was pale. She was also bleeding a lot. Fear gripped me when I saw her in that condition,” recalled Devi, who also tried to wake up Mani thinking that her best friend was unconscious, and wept was inconsolably when she was told her best pal was no more.