Dharmendra Choudhary, a mason, was preparing to leave for the under-construction warehouse in Garden Reach on Tuesday when his five-year-old daughter stopped him.

The resident of Jagatdal in North 24-Parganas was at SSKM Hospital on Friday to meet his injured friends who were working at the site when the collapse occurred on Wednesday. He spoke to Metro:

I had returned from another site on Tuesday. The contractor for the Garden Reach site was offering ₹1,000 a day, which was much more than I was earning at my previous assignment. I was asked to report to the site on Tuesday itself. My wife objected because I was already very tired. But I managed to convince her.

However, my five-year-old daughter also did not want me to leave home that day. She had never stopped me before. I got angry, but she had tears in her eyes. She kept pleading with me not to leave. I could not turn down her request. Though I was a little upset, I agreed because my daughter’s happiness was most important to me.

Some of my friends had already reached the site by then, but I did not go. The next day, this happened. I did not know what to say. I was devastated that I had lost some of my old friends. I was grateful to be alive and with my family. My daughter, Dipti, saved my life.