Thiruvananthapuram > The body of a 47-year-old sanitation worker who went missing in a sewage canal in Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram was found on Monday morning after a search and rescue mission that lasted 46 hours. According to officials, the body was recovered from a stretch of the Amayizhanjan canal, around one km away from where Joy slipped into it, where he was deployed along with two other men to clear waste to ensure sewage flow. Local people spotted the body and alerted the officials.
Joy slipped into the canal at around 11 am on Saturday while performing his duties as a temporary sanitation worker for a railway contractor at the Thampanoor Central Railway Station. Amid heavy rain, he got swept into a tunnel. His body flowed through the tunnel underneath the railway track and got discharged at the other end of the tunnel, which opened into another canal.
Personnel of the Fire Force, National Disaster Response Force and and Indian Navy were engaged in rescue operations. Scuba diving personnel were deployed into the tunnel and even entered the manholes between the railway tracks to locate the sanitation worker but solid waste stuck in the canal impeded their movements. A robot fitted with a camera was sent ino the tunnel on Sunday to see into the dark depths.
CPI(M) leader and corporation mayor Arya Rajendran, said the Railways is responsible for clearing the waste in the tunnel under its tracks. “Several times, the corporation had asked the Railways to clear the waste from the tunnel. During the search, railway waste was also spotted. The Railways will have to give evidence about their waste disposal and treatment facilities,” she said.
