NDRF joins mission to rescue worker swept away in Amayizhanchan canal in Kerala's capital

Thiruvananthapuram: Efforts to rescue a sanitation worker swept away while cleaning the Amayizhanchan canal here are set to resume soon on Sunday morning after being suspended in the early hours.

The rescue mission has been ongoing for nearly 20 hours. According to the latest reports, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has visited and examined the site. Earlier, two robots were deployed for inspection. They were inserted into the manhole adjacent to the railway line near the canal. Equipped with cameras, the robots are tasked with removing pollutants and conducting inspections.

The worker is reportedly trapped inside a tunnel filled with waste, presenting a significant challenge to the rescue operation. Despite efforts by scuba divers to reach 30 metres inside the tunnel, their attempts proved unsuccessful due to darkness and congestion, forcing them to crawl on their knees.

The team has been prioritising clearing the congested tunnel so they can enter it. It remains unknown whether the person is trapped or washed away to another point in the water stretch. The condition of his health is also unknown.

Background

A temporary sanitation worker was swept away around 11 am on Saturday while cleaning the canal in the heart of the state capital. The person swept away is Joy. He, along with two other workers, was engaged in cleaning the Thampanoor part of the canal when the water flow increased due to heavy rainfall.

"As the flow increased, we got out of the canal, but Joy couldn't," one of his co-workers said.

Fire department officials, police, city corporation workers, and others, including the city mayor, are at the site, where efforts continued even at midnight to clear the accumulated plastic waste.

The officials noted the canal was filled with plastic and hard waste, and the rains were hampering the rescue operation.

The temporary workers, including Joy, were employed by a contractor who had secured the contract from the Railways to clean the part of the canal that falls within its territory.

Joy was swept away while he was under a 200-metre-long canal tunnel which runs under the tracks at the railway station.

Earlier in the day, authorities removed loads of waste from the entrance of the tunnel to facilitate the entry of scuba divers. The divers, however, could not go beyond 40 metres, the officials said.

Authorities are currently attempting rescue efforts through a manhole inside the Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station. The manhole is situated between two platforms.

Corporation authorities have called for the deployment of the Bandicoot robot, which is used across the state to clean drainage lines.

Minister V Sivankutty, along with Mayor Arya Rajendran, visited the accident site.

The mayor said reminders were sent to the Railways to clear the part of the canal that falls within its property limit.

Sivankutty said the corporation and the government were ready to clean the tunnel, but the Railway refused to allow it.

"They (Railways) always took a stand that it was their property and that they would clean it. The full responsibility for the waste accumulation falls on the Railways," Sivankutty said.

The mayor said that even though the tunnel does not come under the jurisdiction of the corporation, "we have decided to move forward with the rescue operation as we need to rescue the worker."

With PTI inputs