Belapur building crash: How alert auto driver saved 55 lives

NAVI MUMBAI: The 55 survivors of the crash will forever be in Aakash Babu's debt. The 29-year-old auto driver who used to sleep in a hair salon on the building's ground floor had just arrived around 2am on Saturday when he heard a rumble from the first floor.
Babu reacted swiftly. He began waking others up. He said groggy residents were initially reluctant to leave; a woman on the ground floor even rubbished his warning."Minutes later, her family came on the road and saw the building collapse," he said. "First floor occupants followed my advice and quickly exited. Many occupants started leaving after I raised an alarm."
Babu, who did a second job at the salon every Sunday to pay off the debts incurred during two sisters' marriages and to save up for the remaining four's weddings, said earlier, residents used to avoid speaking to him owing to his "drinking habit". "Now, they have begun appreciating me."