Worker swept away while cleaning Amayizhanchan canal in Kerala capital

Thiruvananthapuram: A temporary sanitation worker was swept away on Saturday morning while cleaning the Amayizhanchan canal in the heart of the state capital, police said.

Joy, 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.

Even after 12 hours of rescue efforts, Marayamuttom resident Joy is yet to be traced, police officials said.

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

The officials said 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 bagged 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".