Mobile phone addiction of a youth — who used to stay up all night watching movies and social media reels — ended up saving the lives of at least 20 villagers, including his parents, when the Ganga swallowed five concrete houses in the riverine Uttar Chachanda village of Murshidabad’s Samserganj early on Tuesday.

Indrajit Barman, 25, the owner of a paan shop in Basudebpur market of Samserganj, was engrossed in a Hindi movie on his mobile phone.

“It was around 1.30am today (on Tuesday) when I heard the sound of the Ganga pounding near my window. I stepped out of my room and saw that the litchi orchard next to our one-storey house had been washed away by the river. I didn’t wait a minute — I hurriedly woke up my parents, who were fast asleep,” said Indrajit.

Within five minutes of getting his parents out of the house, the lower portion, including the floor, was swallowed by the river, leaving the upper concrete structure hanging precariously.

Besides rescuing his parents, Indrajit alerted other households by shouting warnings of the disaster as the Ganga advanced further every minute.

Eventually, five houses were washed away as the river wreaked havoc on the riverside settlement, leaving about 20 people homeless.

“We lost our homes and couldn’t even take out a single piece of furniture. But we were saved because Indrajit was awake. Otherwise, we would all have been washed away along with the buildings,” said Madhuri Sarkar, owner of one of the houses.

“Indrajit’s parents were annoyed by his mobile addiction, and we all knew about it. However, that very addiction ended up saving our lives,” she added.

Uttar Chachanda village has been one of the most vulnerable pockets of Ganga erosion for the past three years. Villagers said that in the past two years, at least 150 houses had been swallowed by the river, which has advanced roughly a kilometre towards the mainland.

Although five houses were washed away on Tuesday, the local administration had already shifted at least 20 families from the village as they were deemed vulnerable if the river advanced just a few metres further.

Sujit Chandra Lodh, the Samserganj block development officer, rushed to the spot on Tuesday morning and provided relief materials and dry food to the victims.

“We have evacuated at least 20 more families and temporarily sheltered them in a nearby school,” said Lodh.