A temporary sanitation worker went missing in the Amayizhanjan canal on Wednesday morning at Thampanoor in the capital. Even nine hour after the rescue efforts began, the worker could not be traced, with the accumulated waste and rains hampering the rescue efforts. The missing worker has been identified as Joy (42) from Marayamuttom.
Fire and rescue service personnel as well as a scuba diving team and local people were involved in the tireless rescue efforts focussed near a narrow part of the canal close to the Central Railway Station. According to Railway sources, a group of workers have been involved in the work for the past 6 days to clean up the part of the drain that passes through railway property.
Fire and Rescue team members along with Corporation workers search for a person who went missing in Amayizhanjan Canal near the Central Railway Station in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. | Photo Credit: MAHINSHA S
After finishing the work on the Power House Road side, the workers had gone over to check the canal on the other side of the premises. As the rain intensified, the flow inside the canal increased, and Joy was reportedly caught up in it. Though the fellow workers attempted to rescue him initially with ropes, these efforts were not successful.
The Fire and Rescue Services personnel, who arrived at the spot, had to first remove huge loads of plastic and other waste before they could venture further into the canal, slowing down the rescue efforts. Attempts were also made to tear down the grills, that were fixed along the canals to prevent throwing of waste, to facilitate the movement of JCBs to remove the waste. The Scuba diving team could not make much headway as the waste blocked their progress. The rescue team fanned out into various points of the canal to locate the missing person, but to no avail.
Mayor Arya Rajendran said that the Corporation has over the past few months sent reminders to the Railways to clean the section of the Amayizhanjan canal that passes through the Railway premises. A notice issued by the Corporation to the Regional Manager, Southern Railway division on June 19 says that work on the canal under the Major Irrigation department remains pending at the section which passes under the rails, near the Parcel office and near the Power House Road. Railway officials confirmed that the ongoing works were taken up following the request from the Corporation.
